Born in Doncaster in the 1950s, Peter Tuffrey grew up with the collieries around him: Yorkshire Main at Edlington, Denaby, Cadeby, Rossington and Askern. Although it might have seemed that things would never change, they did, and Peter has now compiled Doncaster's Collieries to commemorate this once-vital part of the town's heritage. Using photographs from his own collection and the archives of local newspapers, Peter examines the histories of thirteen of the pits that once surrounded his home town, from the elaborate ceremonies which were staged to mark the start of work through to the acrimonious disputes with British Coal and the government of Margaret Thatcher, which so often marked the closure of the Doncaster collieries. The result is a fascinating view of a now-lost but widely remembered industry sure to appeal to those with an interest in the area.

On the basis of an examination of the colonial mercury and silver production processes and related labor systems, Mercury, Mining, and Empire explores the effects of mercury pollution in colonial Huancavelica, Peru, and Potosi, in present-day Bolivia. The book presents a multifaceted and interwoven tale of what colonial exploitation of indigenous peoples and resources left in its wake. It is a socio-ecological history that explores the toxic interrelationships between mercury and silver production, urban environments, and the people who lived and worked in them. Nicholas A. Robins tells the story of how native peoples in the region were conscripted into the noxious ranks of foot soldiers of proto-globalism, and how their fate, and that of their communities, was and still is chained to it."

'We think we are the lucky country, but what we really have is dumb luck - too much luck, more than we know what to do with.' - Paul Cleary In Too Much Luck, Paul Cleary shows how the resource boom, which seems a blessing, could well become a curse. We have never seen a boom quite like this one. Under-taxed and under-regulated, multinational companies are making colossal profits by selling off non-renewable resources. New projects are being rushed through weekly, but who is looking out for the public interest? As the boom accelerates, it will drive the dollar higher and higher, and force up the cost of doing business for everyone else. Industries that involve many jobs, such as tourism and education, will fade away. What happens if commodity prices suddenly collapse, as they have in the past? Or worse, when the resources run out? Many countries before us have been caught by the resource trap: a heady period of boom and growth, followed by a painful bust. Paul Cleary maps out the pitfalls, counts the human and environmental costs, shows what has worked overseas and suggests a better way forward - one which would turn this one-off windfall into a lasting legacy.

" Coal miners evoke admiration and sympathy from the public, and writers -- some seeking a muse, others a cause -- traditionally champion them. David C. Duke explores more than one hundred years of this tradition in literature, poetry, drama, and film. Duke argues that as most writers spoke about rather than to the mining community, miners became stock characters in an industrial morality play, robbed of individuality or humanity. He discusses activist-writers such as John Reed, Theodore Dreiser, and Denise Giardina, who assisted striking workers, and looks at the writing of miners themselves. He examines portrayals of miners from The Trail of the Lonesome Pine to Matewan and The Kentucky Cycle. The most comprehensive study on the subject to date, Writers and Miners investigates the vexed political and creative relationship between activists and artists and those they seek to represent.

The East African country of Tanganyika in 1960 was something of a backwater of the British Empire in which the traditional character of wild Africa still held pride of place. Concurrently however, the winds of political change were, not least in the country's urban centres, promoting an ever-accelerating headlong rush towards a state of national independence or uhuru. It was against a backdrop of transition between the "old" and the new "Africa" that a nation-wide campaign of exploration aimed at discovering deposits of diamonds was carried out in Tanganyika under the auspices of the country's fabled diamond producer, Williamson Diamonds Limited. The campaign involved the mobilisation of thousands of African workers and a few hundred specially engaged white supervisors into a nation-wide network of field camps, many of them set up in remote regions of trackless bush where the only rules were subject to vagaries of climate, the incidence of tsetse flies and the rights of passage of prolific numbers of big game. The white supervisors were as raw in matters pertaining to bush craft as they were wet behind the ears. Their complement contained more than its fair share of misfits, cowboys, adventurers, opportunists and gung-ho celebrants. This book tells their story as it was seen through the eyes of one among them who wouldn't have missed a minute of the experience. The like of such a campaign will never be seen again.

Beginning on Valentine's Day, 1981, when twelve-year-old Todd Domboski plunged through the earth in his grandmother's backyard in Centralia, Pennsylvania, The Day the Earth Caved In is an unprecedented and riveting account of the nation's worst mine fire. In astonishing detail, award-winning journalist Joan Quigley, the granddaughter of Centralia miners, ushers readers into the dramatic world of the underground blaze. Drawing on interviews with key participants and exclusive new research, Quigley paints unforgettable portraits of Centralia and its residents, from Tom Larkin, the short-order cook and ex-hippie who rallied the activists, to Helen Womer, the bank teller who galvanized the opposition, denying the fire's existence even as toxic fumes invaded her home. Like Jonathan Harr's A Civil Action, The Day the Earth Caved In is a seminal investigation" "of individual rights, corporate privilege, and governmental indifference to the powerless.

Dramatic mine accidents early in 2006 have led to passage of the first major amendment to federal mine safety law since 1977. The Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act requires each mine to have an emergency plan, increased supplies of oxygen, and improved rescue teams. Penalties for violations have also been increased. Although the bill had wide support in Congress, some Members have characterised it as only a "first step," to be followed by additional measures that would include a lower maximum limit on dust concentrations, underground refuges, communications and tracking devices, and greater emphasis on enforcement of standards. On January 2, 2006, the nation was reminded of the dangers of underground mining, as 12 miners died in an explosion and fire in the Sago mine in West Virginia. Subsequently, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) issued new regulations; Congress has passed the first major revision of the mine safety law since 1977 and has taken further bills under consideration; and state legislatures in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Illinois have tightened their own laws. These responses have emphasised factors thought to have played a part in the Sago tragedy, including emergency oxygen supplies, tracking and communication systems, and deployment of rescue teams. There have also been proposals to increase the penalties for violations of safety standards.

The Dreiser Committee, including writers Theodore Dreiser, John Dos Passos, and Sherwood Anderson, investigated the desperate situation of striking Kentucky miners in November 1931. When the Communist-led National Miners Union competed against the more conservative United Mine Workers of America for greater union membership, class resentment turned to warfare. Harlan Miners Speak, originally published in 1932, is an invaluable record that illustrates the living and working conditions of the miners during the 1930s. This edition of Harlan Miners Speak, with a new introduction by noted historian John C. Hennen, offers readers an in-depth look at a pivotal crisis in the complex history of this controversial form of energy production.

The prospect of instant riches gives the mining sector an obvious glamour. And when the mining sector begins to run it can be an awesome sight and the excitement generated can be every bit as seductive and heady as that which enveloped markets during the internet boom. But due to the counter-cyclical nature of many mining stocks, they can also offer a valuable refuge when stock markets turn down. In this fully revised and updated second edition, Michael Coulson gives a masterly overview of the sector, explains both the rewards and the pitfalls of investing in mining shares, studies the history of mining booms and busts, looks at the latest, biggest importers such as China and India, and argues convincingly that mining should once again form a core sector for all investors.This book is for anyone interested in mining, and particularly mining as an investment. Whilst it contains material which will be useful to even experienced followers of the sector, its main target is those who are interested in mining but perhaps not particularly familiar with the sector, and would like to know more.All the subjects are covered that are fundamental to acquiring sufficient knowledge about the mining sector to invest in it with confidence. While the mining sector's global focus is both educational and rewarding, on a more basic level the sector has been (and indeed still is) enormous fun to follow and invest in. This book reflects that and also provides some thoughts as to how this fun can be turned to profit.

"The South Wales Coalfield Collection" (SWCC) is one of the largest archives of its kind in the UK and of international importance. This unique asset, however, has been under-used as a tool for medical history because, although the Collection has been catalogued, medical records are often 'hidden' and difficult to locate. "Medical Records for the South Wales Coalfield" is designed to make items of medical significance more accessible. Based on a screening of the Collection funded by a Welcome Trust Research Resources in Medical History Award, the volume will be a popular with academic researchers seeking to define viable projects and focus their efforts more effectively; teachers and lecturers wishing to put the SWCC to educational use and members of the general public interested in the medical and healthcare heritage of the Coalfield.

In 1930, almost 13,000 African Americans worked in the coal mines around Birmingham, Alabama. They made up 53 percent of the mining workforce and some 60 percent of their union's local membership. At the close of the twentieth century, only about 15 percent of Birmingham's miners were black, and the entire mining workforce had been sharply reduced. Robert H. Woodrum offers a challenging interpretation of why this dramatic decline occurred and why it happened during an era of strong union presence in the Alabama coalfields. Drawing on union, company, and government records as well as interviews with coal miners, Woodrum examines the complex connections between racial ideology and technological and economic change. Extending the chronological scope of previous studies of race, work, and unionization in the Birmingham coalfields, Woodrum covers the New Deal, World War II, the postwar era, the 1970s expansion of coalfield employment, and contemporary trends toward globalization. The United Mine Workers of America's efforts to bridge the color line in places like Birmingham should not be underestimated, says Woodrum. Facing pressure from the wider world of segregationist Alabama, however, union leadership ultimately backed off the UMWA's historic commitment to the rights of its black members. Woodrum discusses the role of state UMWA president William Mitch in this process and describes Birmingham's unique economic circumstances as an essentially Rust Belt city within the burgeoning Sun Belt South. This is a nuanced exploration of how, despite their central role in bringing the UMWA back to Alabama in the early 1930s, black miners remained vulnerable to the economic and technological changes that transformed the coal industry after World War II.

Do, Die, or Get Along weaves together voices of twenty-six people who have intimate connections to two neighboring towns in the southwestern Virginia coal country. Filled with evidence of a new kind of local outlook on the widespread challenge of small community survival, the book tells how a confrontational ""do-or-die"" past has given way to a ""get-along"" present built on coalition and guarded hope. St. Paul and Dante are six miles apart; measured in other ways, the distance can be greater. Dante, for decades a company town controlled at all levels by the mine owners, has only a recent history of civic initiative. In St. Paul, which arose at a railroad junction, public debate, entrepreneurship, and education found a more receptive home. The speakers are men and women, wealthy and poor, black and white, old-timers and newcomers. Their concerns and interests range widely, including the battle over strip mining, efforts to control flooding, the 1989-90 Pittston strike, the nationally acclaimed Wetlands Estonoa Project, and the grassroots revitalization of both towns led by the St. Paul Tomorrow and Dante Lives On organizations. Their talk of the past often invokes an ethos, rooted in the hand-to-mouth pioneer era, of short-term gain. Just as frequently, however, talk turns to more recent times, when community leaders, corporations, unions, the federal government, and environmental groups have begun to seek accord based on what will be best, in the long run, for the towns. The story of Dante and St. Paul, Crow writes, ""gives twenty-first-century meaning to the idea of the good fight."" This is an absorbing account of persistence, resourcefulness, and eclectic redefinition of success and community revival, with ramifications well beyond Appalachia.

The global spread of transnational mining investment, which has been taking place since the 1990s, has led to often volatile conflicts with local communities. This book examines the regulation of these conflicts through national, transnational and local legal processes. In doing so, it examines how legal authority is being redistributed among public and private actors, as well as national and transnational actors, as a result of globalizing forces. The book presents a case study concerning the negotiation of land transfer and resettlement between a transnational mining enterprise and indigenous peasants in the Andes of Peru. The case study is used to explore the intensely local dynamics involved in negotiations between corporate and community representatives and the role played by legal ordering in these relations. In particular, the book examines the operation of a transnational legal regime managed by the World Bank to remedy the social and environmental impacts of projects which receive Bank assistance. The book explores the nature and character of the World Bank regime and the multiple consequences of this projection of transnational law into a local dispute.

Eight leading authorities from around the world have collaborated to produce this volume which provides a thorough treatment of mineral royalties. Intended as a reference for anyone interested in mineral sector taxation, it examines the many facets of royalties ranging from their justification, to the types of royalties used historically and presently. It analyzes royalty policy from the viewpoints of various stakeholders and indicates the strengths and weaknesses of different royalty types. Key practical issues such as tax administration, revenue distribution, transparency and reporting are covered. A CD-ROM, included with the book, contains an extensive appendix of actual royalty legislation from over forty nations.

This volume gives a vital and unique insight into the effects of mining and other forms of resource extraction upon the indigenous peoples of Australia and Papua New Guinea. Based on extensive fieldwork, it offers a comparative focus on indigenous cosmologies and their articulation or disjunction with the forces of 'development'. A central dimension of contrast is that Australia as a 'settled' continent has had wholesale dispossession of Aboriginal land, while in Papua New Guinea more than 95% of the land surface remains unalienated from customary ownership. Less obviously, there are also important similarities owing to: -a shared form of land title in which the state retains ownership of underground resources; -the manner in which Western law has been used in both countries to define and codify customary land tenure; -an emphasis on the reproductive imagery of minerals, petroleum and extraction processes employed by Aborigines and Papua New Guineans; -and some surprising parallels in the ways that social identities on either side of the Arafura Sea have traditionally been grounded in landscape These studies are essential reading for all scholars involved in assessing the effects of resource extraction in Third World and Fourth World settings. They contribute penetrating studies of the forms of indigenous socio-cultural response to multinational companies and Western forms of governance and law. ADVANCE PRAISE 'The writing is new and interesting. The essays mark out new ideas in seemingly effortless abundance. . . In sum - buy it, read it, I think you'll agree that its one of the really interesting books of the year.' Deborah Rose, Senior Fellow, Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, ANU. Alan Rumsey is a Senior Fellow in the Department of Anthropology and James Weiner a Visiting Fellow in the Resource Management in Asia-Pacific Program, both in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.

Surface coal mining has had a dramatic impact on the Appalachian economy and ecology since World War II, exacerbating the region's chronic unemployment and destroying much of its natural environment. Here, Chad Montrie examines the twentieth-century movement to outlaw surface mining in Appalachia, tracing popular opposition to the industry from its inception through the growth of a militant movement that engaged in acts of civil disobedience and industrial sabotage. Both comprehensive and comparative, "To Save the Land and People" chronicles the story of surface mining opposition in the whole region, from Pennsylvania to Alabama.

Though many accounts of environmental activism focus on middle-class suburbanites and emphasize national events, the campaign to abolish strip mining was primarily a movement of farmers and working people, originating at the local and state levels. Its history underscores the significant role of common people and grassroots efforts in the American environmental movement. This book also contributes to a long-running debate about American values by revealing how veneration for small, private properties has shaped the political consciousness of strip mining opponents.

The men who worked British Columbia's mines have passed into history. Coal Dust In My Blood is a moving account of one coal miner's life, in plain, evocative language. But this book is much more than a personal memoir. Bill Johnstone's mining career spanned several decades and he worked in a wide variety of positions. His broad insights reveal important aspects of the history of coal mining in BC.

'Many British Columbians could take a chapter from this book and call it their own story. Immigration, the depression years, or most significantly, the life in the mines were experienced by many residents of this province.' - Robert D. Turner, from the Foreword

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.

Whether you're an experienced evaluator of mineral projects, a student, or a decision maker who is not a practitioner but must use evaluation results, this new book is an essential reference for your bookshelf. Designed to complement traditional engineering texts, this book emphasizes the concepts of mineral project evaluation rather than computational details. It describes various economic evaluation techniques typically employed (including conventional cost analysis, discounted cash flow, and option analysis), their uses, and their relationships with geological, technological, and financial evaluations. Also discussed are the strengths and weaknesses of commonly practiced evaluation methods.

This book explains the practical difficulties in conducting an analysis and correctly interpreting the results, as well as the use of alternative techniques. Because many existing texts do not adequately discuss the meanings and application of merit measures, such as net present value (NPV) or internal rate of return (IRR), this book represents an exciting departure from standard reference tools. Contents include: why NPV and IRR are both valid and useful merit measuresthe shortcomings of conventional NPV and IRR analysisthe dangers of scenario analysiswhy conventional incremental analysis is not needed to correctly calculate IRRwhy the desire to achieve NPV-consistent IRR is misleadinghow competitive cost analysis is conducted and usedwhy option pricing is an important addition to the evaluation process.

When used correctly, evaluation methods are powerful tools to help us understand the economics of investment projects. Don't miss out on this new source. Contains glossary and full index.

The boom era began with the discovery of gold in California in 1848 and extended over 150 years to include the rushes in the Pikes Peak region in Colorado, the Black Hills of South Dakota, Alder Gulch in Montana, and the Yukon. PRECIOUS DUST humanizes the mad rush to these remote places. 18 photos. 5 maps. Index.

With a scholar's precision and a novelist's eye, Stefan Kanfer tells the inside story of De Beers Consolidated Mines - from the nineteenth century diamond rush that transformed Johannes De Beer's humble South African farm into an exotic klondike, to the Oppenheimers' shadow empire that has achieved umatched global reach.

Few people in America today live with the dangers and deprivations that Appalachian coal mining families experience. But to the eighteen West Virginia women Carol Giesen interviewed for this book, hard times are just everyday life.

These coal miners' wives, ranging in age from late teens to eighty-five, tell of a way of life dominated by coal mining -- and shadowed by a constant fear of death or injury to a loved one. From birth to old age, they experience the social and economic pressures of the coal mining industry. Few families in these communities earn their living in any job outside a coal mine, and most young men and women find no advantage in completing their education.

Women whose stresses and strengths have seldom been disclosed reveal here their personal stories, their understanding of the dangers of coal mining, their domestic concerns, the place of friends and faith in their lives, and their expectations of the future. What emerges is a deeply moving story of determination in the face of adversity. Over and over, these women deal with the frustrations caused by strikes, layoffs, and mine closings, often taking any jobs they can find while their husbands are out of work Endlessly; their home concerns revolve around protecting their husbands from additional work or worry. Always there is fear for their husbands' lives and the pervasive anger they feel toward the mining companies. For some, there is also the pain of losing a loved one to the mines. Behind these women's acceptance of their circumstances lies a pragmatic understanding of the politics of mining and of the communities in which they live.

Giesen's insights into the experiences of miners' wives contribute much to our understanding of the impact of industry, economics, and politics on women's lives.

On September 10, 1897, a group of 400 striking coal miners--workers of Polish, Slovak, and Lithuanian descent or origin--marched on Lattimer, Pennsylvania. There, law enforcement officers fired without warning into the protesters, killing nineteen miners and wounding thirty-eight others. The bloody day quickly faded into history. Paul A. Shackel confronts the legacies and lessons of the Lattimer event. Beginning with a dramatic retelling of the incident, Shackel traces how the violence, and the acquittal of the deputies who perpetrated it, spurred membership in the United Mine Workers. By blending archival and archaeological research with interviews, he weighs how the people living in the region remember--and forget--what happened. Now in positions of power, the descendants of the slain miners have themselves become rabidly anti-union and anti-immigrant as Dominicans and other Latinos change the community. Shackel shows how the social, economic, and political circumstances surrounding historic Lattimer connect in profound ways to the riven communities of today. Compelling and timely, Remembering Lattimer restores an American tragedy to our public memory.

The coal mine represented much more than a way of making a living to the miners of Thurber, Texas, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries--it represented a way of life. Coal mining dominated Thurber's work life, and miners dominated its social life. The large immigrant population that filled the mines in Thurber had arrived from more than a dozen nations, which lent a certain distinctiveness to this Texas town. In 1888 Robert D. Hunter and the Texas & Pacific Coal Company founded the town of Thurber on the site of Johnson Mines, a small coalmining village on the western edge of North Central Texas where Palo Pinto, Erath, and Eastland counties converged. William Whipple and Harvey E. Johnson first established a small community there in 1886 as the railroads' demand for coal enhanced the possibility of financial reward for entrepreneurs willing to risk the effort to tap the thin bituminous coal veins that lay beneath the ground. Where the first comers failed, Hunter and his stockholders prevailed. For almost forty years the company mined coal and owned and operated a town that by 1910 served as home to more than three thousand residents. In some respects, the town mirrored the work and culture of bituminous coal mining communities throughout the United States. Like most, it experienced labor upheaval that reached a dramatic climax in 1903 when the United Mine Workers, emboldened and strengthened by successes in other parts of the Southwest, organized Thurber's miners. Unlike elsewhere, however, the miners' success at Thurber was not fraught with violence and loss of life; furthermore, in the strike's aftermath good relations generally characterized employer/employeenegotiations. Marilyn Rhinehart examines the culture of the miners' work, the demographics and social life of the community, and the benefits and constraints of life in a company town. Above all she demonstrates the features both at work and after work of a culture shaped by the occupation of coal mining.

This is the seventh volume in a continuing series of The Mineral Statistics of the United Kingdom 1845-1913 and completes coverage of the South West of England. Cornwall was the greatest mining district in the country during this period and the number and output of its mines dwarfed those of all other regions. This book shows the industry at its peak and through the first years of irreversible decline, recording, in detail, the output, ownership, management and employment of every working mine in the county. Drawing on the Mining Record Office's own official published returns, it is designed to supplement and correct section of H.G. Dines, The Metalliferous Mining Region of South-West England and to provide a basic reference text for all interested in the history and geology of mining in Cornwall. The addition of new locational information in the form of Ordinance Survey Grid References makes this the most comprehensive field guide to the substantial surface and underground remained of the county.