Mining

Animas River flowing through Santa Rita Park a week after the Gold King Mine spill in Colorado

The American West is Full of Old Mines Threatening to Pollute Waterways

Lessons can be learned from the recent spill in the Animas River

A giant truck carrying tar sand from a mine in Canada

Utah Has the First Tar Sands Mine in the U.S.

The mine will operate on land in the Book Cliffs area

A Scottish Duke Transformed This Abandoned Coal Mine into a Cosmological Land-Art Park

A scarred landscape in rural Scotland has become a grassy multiverse now open for exploration

Discharge from the Gold King Mine colored Colorado's Animas River a distinct golden hue on August 6.

Why Tens of Thousands of Toxic Mines Litter the U.S. West

The spill in Colorado's Animas River highlights the problem of wastewater building up in abandoned mines

Sand Mining on the banks of the Sita River near Mabukala bridge in Brahmavar, India

The Demand for Sand is so High There are Illegal Sand Mining Operations

Only certain kinds of sand can be used in construction and mining it causes problems

Diamond crystal on kimberlite from Eastern Siberia

This African Plant Leads the Way to Diamond Deposits

A palm-like plant seems to grow only on top of diamond-rich deposits called kimberlite pipes

The abandoned city of Machu Picchu is one legacy of the Spanish conquest of the Incas. Traces of air pollution in a Peruvian ice cap are another.

Spanish Conquest of the Incas Caused Air Pollution to Spike

A sample of Peruvian ice has revealed a surge in pollution linked to mining that wasn't exceeded until the Industrial Revolution

The lavish displays of the Gold Souk in Dubai are a long way from deforested areas of South America, but a new study connects the two worlds.

Lust for Gold Is Consuming Precious South American Forests

Satellite images show that while the scale of deforestation is small, it is bleeding into protected areas

The BelAZ 75710 is the world's largest dump truck — note people in the bottom right for scale.

This Is the World’s Largest Dump Truck

The mega Earth-mover is hard at work digging a coal mine in Russia

Raymond C. Yazzie, 2012. Coral, Lone Mountain and Orvil Jack turquoise, opal, sugilite, 14-karat gold. Collection of Janice Moody.

Why is Turquoise Becoming Rarer and More Valuable Than Diamonds?

With depleting mines, turquoise, the most sacred stone to the Navajo, has become increasingly rare.

A marble worker in Italy

Quarrying for Marble Looks Unreal

A film excerpt follows the boss at an open-pit marble quarry in Carrara, Italy

For the time being, at least, the lands near the Grand Canyon will not be converted into something resembling this uranium mine in New Mexico.

The Grand Canyon Will Not Be Mined for Uranium

Uranium mining will be banned for the next 20 years on nearly 1 million acres of land near the Grand Canyon

How Plants Could Clean Up Abandoned Mines—And Extract Metal in the Process

Some groups are researching how plants can be used to clean up dangerous metals from the ground

Kiruna's Iron Mine at Night

How to Move a Town

Sweden’s northernmost town is moving towards the east to avoid falling into a mine

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7 Epic Fails Brought to You By the Genius Mind of Thomas Edison

Despite popular belief, the inventor wasn’t the “Wiz” of everything

Elk Creek is the first methane-to-energy project at a coal mine west of the Mississippi and the largest of its kind nationwide.

Squeezing Cleaner Energy from Coal’s Waste

Coal mine methane could soon transform from problematic waste to valuable fuel

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Is Your Cell Phone Helping to Fund a Civil War?

The rare minerals used to build your cell phone are coming under scrutiny by federal regulators

To find flecks of gold, workers devour the rainforest floor with water cannons. "There are a lot of accidents," says one. "The sides of the hole can fall away, can crush you."

The Devastating Costs of the Amazon Gold Rush

Spurred by rising global demand for the metal, miners are destroying invaluable rainforest in Peru's Amazon basin

Mountain operations, like the Hobet 21 mine near Danville, West Virginia, yield one ton of coal for every 16 tons of terrain displaced.

Mining the Mountains

Explosives and machines are destroying Appalachian peaks to obtain coal. In a West Virginia town, residents and the industry fight over a mountain's fate

The sulfuric lake of Kawah Ijen Mountain's cauldron, Indonesia

Fire and Brimstone

A long-outdated approach to sulfur mining sends hundreds of Javanese workers deep into the crater of an active volcano

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