Mining

A deep-sea starfish attached to what is called a polymetallic nodule. These nodules are being targeted by the burgeoning deep-sea mining industry for their mixture of valuable metals including manganese, cobalt, copper and nickel.

Deep-Sea Mining’s Environmental Toll Could Last Decades

A study of microbial communities at the site of a 1989 deep-sea mining test suggests the fragile ecosystem may take half a century to fully recover

The History of the Hard Hat

With some canvas, leather, shelac and black paint, inventor Edward Bullard helped America usher in a new era of workplace safety

Founded in 1854, the town of Ivittuut (formerly Ivigtut) once held the world’s largest reserve of naturally occurring cryolite.

How This Abandoned Mining Town in Greenland Helped Win World War II

Ivittuut held the world’s largest reserve of naturally occurring cryolite, a mineral that was used in the manufacturing of fighter planes

Helpers fill sandbags on the tip above the shattered Pantglas Junior School to divert a spring and avert the risk of further landslides at Aberfan, South Wales.

The True Story of the Aberfan Disaster

The 1966 Welsh mining tragedy claimed the lives of 116 children and 28 adults and features heavily in the third season of Netflix's "The Crown"

Opalised fossils from Lightning Ridge, N.S.W, Australia. From the collection of the Australian Opal Center. Clockwise from top left: freshwater snail; plesiosaur tooth; crocodile tooth; pine cone; pelvis bone of ornithopod dinosaur. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by (respectively) Down to Earth Opals, Timothy Seekamp, Stephen Turner and Michael Poben.

Scientists and Miners Team Up to Preserve Opalized Fossils

An ambitious collaboration between paleontologists and a local mining community seeks to conserve the rare fossilized remains

The fungus picks up gold from its surroundings, oxidizes it, and then transforms the dissolved element back into a solid state

Scientists Discover Fungus That Collects Gold From Its Environment

The Australian fungus could help miners find the next generation of underground gold deposits

Pompeii Fixed Potholes With Molten Iron

A new study suggests the Romans knew how to melt iron and used it to fill in wheel ruts and cavities on their stone streets

iPhones contain a gold concentration 100 times higher than that of a mineral resource geologists would describe as “high-grade"

What Happens When You Drop an iPhone Into a Blender?

Scientists ground up an iPhone 4s to reveal its chemical composition, highlight rare metals used in manufacturing and encourage device recycling

Miners marched to Lattimer, Pennsylvania, on September 10, 1897, to protest harsh working conditions.

How a 1897 Massacre of Pennsylvania Coal Miners Morphed From a Galvanizing Crisis to Forgotten History

The death of 19 immigrants may have unified the labor movement, but powerful interests left their fates unrecognized until decades later

Grand Canyon National Park

The Decades-Long Political Fight to Save the Grand Canyon

Americans had long known about the wonders of the southwestern landmark, but it wouldn't be until 1919 that it would gain full federal protection

Coal-colored snow has blanketed Siberia's Kuzbass region this winter, provoking local outrage and health concerns

In Siberia, Toxic Black Snow Reveals the Toll of Coal Mining

Authorities in one town reportedly attempted to cover up coal-polluted snow with white paint

A collapsed dam left 200 people missing and at least 58 dead, officials say. Rescuers search using helicopters.

Brazilian Mine Disaster Leaves 58 Dead, 200 Missing

Mine waste and sludge have contaminated a huge stretch of the Paraopeba River

New Map Chronicles Three Decades of Surface Mining in Central Appalachia

The data shows about 1.5 million acres of forest have been affected by surface and mountaintop mining since the 1970s

You'll Soon Be Able to Stay in This Historic California Ghost Town

Cerro Gordo was once a lively mining town. Now its new owners have plans to refurbish it in hopes of attracting visitors to the relic of the Wild West

John Mackay made a fortune in the mining industry.

The Mining Millionaire Americans Couldn’t Help But Love

Unlike the other one-percenters of his age, John Mackay gained his countrymen’s admiration. But in an ironic twist, it means he’s little known today

Rafters on the South Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho

These Are America's Ten Most Endangered Rivers

Mining and flood control projects are the main threats to waterways, according to the new report

Coal miners walk through a tunnel at the Consol Energy Bailey Mine in Wind Ridge, Pennsylvania in 2013.

Why Black Lung Disease Is Deadlier Than Ever Before

As President Trump prepares to send miners back to work, a near-obsolete illness is once again ravaging coal country

Black lung x-rays from a patient in Birmingham, Alabama, 1972

Study Uncovers Startling Number of Black Lung Cases in Coal Miners

Miners are contracting the disease with striking frequency and at younger ages than ever before

Take Five (2006), Tom Lamb

This Gallery Is Dedicated to Coal Miners' Art

The Mining Art Gallery showcases works created by the thousands of miners who've lived and worked in the Great Northern Coalfield

Cheers!

Nobody Is Sure Why they Call It a ‘Martini’

Tastes just as good, though

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