|
|
|
Information and links on a variety of technical aspects of mining & mineral exploration.
|
| |
| Articles |
 DOE-Sponsored Mississippi Project Hits 1-Million-Ton Milestone for Injected CO2Thursday, November 05, 2009A large-scale carbon dioxide (CO2) storage project in Mississippi has become the fifth worldwide to reach the important milestone of more than 1 million tons injected. As a result, it is helping to both further carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a mitigation strategy for global climate change and move forward G-8 recommendations for launching 20 projects of this type internationally by 2010. read more » Newmont assists farmers affected by its operations Thursday, November 05, 2009Newmont Ghana Gold Limited (NGGL) Ahafo Mine has completed the first part of the second phase of its Agricultural Improvement and Land Access Programme (AILAP) aimed at assisting farmers affected by its operations. read more » Water: Coalbed methane decision adds salt to Montana farmers' wounds Tuesday, November 03, 2009Roger Muggli has worked his family's 1,700-acre farm in east Montana almost the entire length of his 61 years, and he considers the nearby Tongue River to be the very lifeblood of his alfalfa and barley crops. But three years ago, something happened to the river's water, Muggli said, as routine irrigation began turning the Custer County farm's once-rich soil the consistency of mayonnaise. read more » Manitoba spending $42M to clean up old minesThursday, October 29, 2009The Manitoba government is spending $42 million to clean up 18 orphaned and abandoned mine sites in the province, using a time of recession as the perfect opportunity to rehabilitate contaminated land and water. read more » Suncor Energy submits regulatory application for new tailings technologyMonday, October 26, 2009Suncor Energy Inc. reports that it has submitted a regulatory application for changes to the company’s oil sands mining and extraction operations that target significant improvement in the speed of reclamation of oil sands tailings at the company’s existing oil sands operations near Fort McMurray. read more » Conservation and Native American Groups Challenge Bush-Era Mining GiveawaysWednesday, October 21, 2009A coalition of conservation and Native American organizations today filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Washington, D.C. challenging two regulations issued by the Bush Administration that weakened the requirements for environmental and taxpayer protections on federal public land involved in mining operations. read more » Focusing on the FillsTuesday, October 20, 2009For the first time, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will revoke a permit it had issued for a West Virginia surface mine, due to violations of the Clean Water Act. read more » Computer models help green up coal powerTuesday, October 20, 2009The U.S. Department of Energy awarded software company Reaction Design a project to develop a computer simulation for zero-emission coal power plants. read more » Environmental degradation and displacement feeds violence in IndiaThursday, October 15, 2009More targets are being hit every day by the Naxals in India, and the death toll rises. As India threatens violent retribution against the rebels with one hand, they fuel the fire with the other. read more » Geothermal Power, Lithium Mining Two-in-One in CaliforniaFriday, October 09, 2009Geothermal power plants can extract lithium from underground brine and sell it to battery makers. One geothermal project is turning to startup Simbol Mining to try it out read more » Forest restorationWednesday, September 30, 2009Mining and conservation are often considered to be incompatible land uses. Yet, economically important mineral deposits often occur in areas with high biodiversity and therefore, high conservation value. read more » Planning for the futureWednesday, September 30, 2009In the introduction to ICMM's Planning for Integrated Mine Closure: Toolkit, the authors describe planning for closure as being "about how to design a mine operation in order to facilitate closure. When a project is designed,there is a lot of scope to do so with closure in mind..." read more » CCS all about finding the ‘right rocks’Wednesday, September 30, 2009The Coal Tech 2009 conference, held on September 15-16th, hosted a range of presentations on technologies including carbon capture and storage (CCS); coal-to-liquids; underground coal gasification; and syngas. read more » California Mining Investment RulesTuesday, September 01, 2009A new mine in California is almost unheard of. We must take our hats off to Molycorp for the reopening of, dare we call it the “new?” Mountain Pass mine in California. read more » Rare Earth Mining in California - Can We Out-mine the Chinese?Monday, August 31, 2009Rare earths such as neodymium and lanthanum are needed for hybrid cars that are better for the environment. But will we be allowed to mine all the metals that need to go into these cars or will we be stopped by the environmentally conscious consumers who demand them? read more » Mining a Wilderness area in Montana - can it be done "right?" By whom?Wednesday, August 26, 2009Revett Mines is working through the permitting for its Rock Creek Mine in Montana - what would be the first mine to be build underneath a Wilderness area in the U.S. There are so many unknowns, and so many dangers; maybe it can be done right, but the amount of trust required is immense, and must be earned. read more » Mercury-tainted fish found widely in U.S. streamsThursday, August 20, 2009Scientists have detected mercury contamination in every one of hundreds of fish sampled from 291 freshwater streams, according to a U.S. government study released on Wednesday. More than a quarter of those fish contained concentrations of mercury exceeding levels set by the Environmental Protection Agency for the protection of people who eat age amounts of fish, the U.S. Geological Survey report said. read more » The Arid DeviceThursday, July 09, 2009Industry and governmental agencies have known for years that the water quality in the Powder River Basin coals is quite good. In fact, CBM produced water has greatly enhanced livestock operations, through the development of watering areas in previously unused or under-used pastures. read more » Frack Attack - Drilling Technique Under ScrutinyThursday, June 25, 2009Four years after a widely used but controversial oil and gas production technology was exempted from federal regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act, Congress is taking another look at the process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. read more » Nutrient Delivery to the Gulf of Mexico Among Highest Measured Tuesday, June 16, 2009Spring nutrient delivery to the northern Gulf of Mexico is among the highest measured by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in thirty years. read more » Electronic Journal on California Gold Rush and Gold MiningThursday, May 14, 2009The Sierra College Press has published an electronic journal on the California Gold Rush and Gold Mining. This eJournal is the latest edition of Snowy Range Reflections: A Journal of Sierra Nevada History and Biography. read more » Climate Change Impacts MiningThursday, April 09, 2009The most intriguing paper from the 2009 SME conference is entitled Climate Change Risk and Impact Assessment for Global Diversified Mining Group. read more » SME 2009 ConferenceFriday, February 27, 2009A report on the 2009 SME keynote presentation on mining in 2009 read more » Underground Tailings DisposalMonday, February 02, 2009Here is an interesting discussion of underground disposal of tailings at the Doris North Project: Tailings is often disposed of in underground mines as backfill to provide ground or wall support read more » Nuclear Energy and MiningThursday, November 13, 2008Intuitively I believe nuclear energy is the way of the future as the only clean, abundant source of energy. As a professional, I have worked many years stabilizing old uranium mill tailings impoundments and know it can be done. read more » South African Mine Water Best Management PracticesTuesday, October 28, 2008Here are links to a magnificent series of e-publications from South Africa on management of mine water read more » Perpetual Mine Water TreatmentFriday, October 24, 2008Here is a collection of writings on the issue of perpetual treatment of mine waters. read more » Sacred CavesTuesday, October 14, 2008Here's another of those reports of sites that suddenly turn out to be sacred when the miner fails to promise the locals lots of money. read more » WVU Receives $550,000 EPA Award for Sustainable Energy Parks ProjectFriday, September 12, 2008West Virginia University researchers have a plan to turn abandoned mine property into fields capable of growing switchgrass and other biofuels. read more » Mine Mound ArchaeologyFriday, July 11, 2008What evidence is there in the archaeological record for the very-long-term performance of mine waste disposal facilities? A paper from twenty-five years ago gives some interesting answers. read more » Alaska Mine PermittingMonday, May 26, 2008What is involved in permitting a mine? The answer varies depending on the type and location of your mine. read more » Erosion Control EducationWednesday, May 07, 2008The International Erosion Control Association is a source of On-Demand education opportunities. read more » ARD PermittingFriday, April 25, 2008The Environmental Literacy Council write on the topic of mine permitting and acid mine drainage: “Since the 1977 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act mining operators are required to present a plan for minimizing or mitigating acid mine drainage before they receive a permit to begin mining.” read more » Acid Rock Drainage TasmaniaWednesday, April 23, 2008Uncontrolled discharge of acid mine drainage into waterways poses a risk to downstream users and to aquatic life, riparian vegetation and water resource use. read more » Compromise Reached Between Mining Company and Conservation GroupsMonday, April 21, 2008An accord was reached between conservation groups and mining interests, ending an 18-year effort to stop the development of a large gold mine on Buckhorn Mountain in north central Washington State. read more » Northwest Power Line Coalition Confirms StudyMonday, March 31, 2008The Mining Association together with the Northern Development Initiative Trust today confirmed that a study has been commissioned looking into the economic viability of the Northwest Power Line along Highway 37 in north western British Columbia.
read more » Non-Traditional Uranium MiningFriday, February 29, 2008Here is a way to get more uranium from old mines and simultaneously protect surface water quality. In the paper Non-Traditional Utilization of Uranium Deposits After Underground Mining Completion, Rapantova et al. write of recovery of uranium from groundwater read more » Argentina MiningFriday, February 29, 2008Julio C Avila concludes his paper Mining and the Environment in Argentina: Analysis of controversial cases by stating: "... there is a conflict between the Argentina National Mining Code and some provincial “anti mining” laws" read more » Zambian Mine Air PollutionFriday, February 22, 2008Here is a news item that I found in the nether reaches of the web. To my knowledge it did not appear in any of the conventional news streams. read more » Environmental Consulting ServicesFriday, February 01, 2008Air quality is possibly the most important, but nevertheless the most elusive problem in all environmental work. Perhaps Environmental Consulting Services are your answer to this problem. read more » What Makes For a Good EIS?Friday, January 18, 2008Here is a book I have not yet read: Quantifying Environmental Impact Assessment Using Fuzzy Logic by Richard B. Shepard. I write about this book below as the author is a frequent commenter on my blog and has posed the following interesting comment. read more » Giant Mine Ground FreezingMonday, January 14, 2008An extreme example of ground freezing to control groundwater pollution from a closed mine, is the Giant Mine in the Northwest Territories, Canada. read more » Durham CoalfieldsFriday, January 11, 2008The February 2007 edition of the Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology included a paper entitled Migration of polluted mine water in a public supply aquifer. read more » GoldSim White PapersWednesday, January 09, 2008Two white papers from GoldSim that are, in my opinion, worth downloading and reading read more » Global Mercury ProjectThursday, December 20, 2007Mercury is being used extensively to mine gold in artisanal and small mines world-wide. read more » Kemess Mine and the Scoble Report: 2007 OverviewWednesday, December 12, 2007As 2007 draws to a close, we compile this article by collating and editing our postings from the past year on the British Columbia mining story of the year, namely the Kemess North Mine. read more » Securing the Future and ICARDWednesday, October 17, 2007If you are planning to go to Skellefteå, Sweden in June 2009, you had better act now. They are calling for abstracts of papers for the 8th International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage. read more » Red Chris MineWednesday, October 17, 2007Imperial Metals Corporation is the owner of BCMetals Corp which in turn owns the Red Chris Copper-Gold property in northern British Columbia. In 2005 the BC Ministry of the Environment gave their approval of the project. read more » MEND PublicationTuesday, October 9, 2007New from MEND is the report: Assessing the Long Term Performance of a Shallow Water Cover to Limit Oxidation of Reactive Tailings at Louvicourt Mine read more » Rescan on Carbon InventoryThursday, October 4, 2007Rescan has grabbed the bull by the horns. They offer a Carbon Inventory and Auditing service. read more » Calculating Additional Revenue From Accelerated Environmental PermittingThursday, September 13, 2007Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc., the advanced-technology environmental consultants, provides a present value (PV) calculator on its web site that demonstrates the financial benefits possible by accelerating environmental permitting. read more » Archaeology and Mines: The Southern California BightFriday, August 10, 2007On a clear day, Catalina Island stretches across the horizon twenty-five miles off the Huntington Beach coast. Many times I have walked the dog along the beach and gazed out at the far island. read more » International Mine Water AssociationFriday, July 20, 2007Kudos to the International Mine Water Association for making the proceedings of the Congresses, Symposia, and Meetings so readily available. read more » Statistical ResearchTuesday, July 17, 2007You cannot open or develop a mine unless you have established the archaeological significance of the site. The best example I know of is the Royal Mountain King Mine in California read more » Sustainable Mine Development and ClosureFriday, June 29, 2007Sustainable mine development, operation, closure, reclamation, and long-term maintenance are ideals. But the concept of sustainability is vague read more » Sustainability AssessmentsTuesday, April 24, 2007Another piece that just arrived. Kudos to those who wrote it but did not append their names. The International Council on Mining and Metals took a further step towards sustainable mining and corporate accountability last year read more » Ecologically Sustainable DevelopmentFriday, April 20, 2007On first blush you might ask what the case of Gray vs. The Minister for Planning, and Taralga Landscape Guardians vs. The Minister for Planning have in common, other than the reference to the Minister. Answer: ecologically sustainable development (ESD). read more » SpookWednesday, April 04, 2007Filling old open pit mines with mining wastes has many advantages. I recognize there are many disadvantages too, mostly to do with the cost. read more » MEND MonitorWednesday, March 28, 2007We have just received the MEND Monitor for March 2007. It outlines recent MEND publications, events and information. read more » Montana MiningFriday, March 23, 2007The idea started in Montana and now is spreading across the west: no new mining unless you can prove up front that you won’t need perpetual water treatment when you shut down. read more » Mining LabsFriday, March 23, 2007At every stage of mining, a lab is needed to test some sample or other. During exploration there are soil and rock samples to test, during production there are metallurgical and environmental samples to test read more » Emissions CapsFriday, March 16, 2007Opposition won’t impress anybody. Only positive suggestions based on reality are of any potential value. This clarion call for leadership is prompted by the news that Caterpillar read more » Oil SandsWednesday, March 14, 2007A CBC news article from January mentioned that the United States wants Canada’s oil sands project to be expanded by five times its current capacity. read more » Applied EcosystemsWednesday, March 14, 2007Dr. Richard Shepard, President of Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc. has been asked by the US Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to speak at their National Minerals Workshop in Sparks, NV, on March 21, 2007 read more » Dust CalculationsFriday, March 09, 2007The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) e-publishes the definitive volume on how to calculate the quantity of dust from mine (and indeed all) unpaved roads, paved roads read more » USA vs Canada re CoalMonday, March 05, 2007How would you decide in a dispute (fight, war) between the United States and Canada? Now miners can express their opinion on an international struggle between the two nations over issues fundamental to the mining industry read more » The New ProhibitionistWednesday, February 21, 2007Georgius Agricola, in 1556 in De Re Metallica writes: The earth does not conceal and remove from our eyes those things which are useful and necessary to mankind read more » AMEC AnnouncementMonday, February 19, 2007The following came to me via e-mail. Issued by David Bleiker, AMEC Earth & Environmental read more » Northwest Mining Association MeetingThursday, February 15, 2007The Northwest Mining Association meeting in Reno was well attended in 2006. In conjunction with the meeting, representatives of the International Cyanide Management Institute made a presentation on the code read more » GIS Ten PercentThursday, February 15, 2007Before the mine, a forest. With a bit of luck, after the mine, a forest. We need trees aplenty to counteract global warming. read more » Rock Pile Transient SeepageFriday, February 02, 2007This is the story of a waste rock dump success/failure. The story is in a paper from BiTech Publishers and their premier magazine Geotechnical News. read more » Mines & CommunitiesFriday, February 02, 2007Chicken curry and two beers at a fancy restaurant in Vancouver paid for by the mining industry. I discussed with my co-diner: education of mining engineers; shutting down university departments of mining engineering; the ethics of mining read more » I Think Mining BlogWednesday, January 31, 2007Some paper magazines will never die. They are the ones with high quality, thoughtful, well-written articles. The rest are doomed to fade and wither. Part of their problem is the competition of Blogs read more » Software DirectoryWednesday, January 24, 2007The Geotechnical & Geoenvironmental Software Directory catalogues 1681 programs in the fields of Geotechnical Engineering, Soil Mechanics, Rock Mechanics, Engineering Geology read more » Carbon Fixation in TailingsTuesday, January 23, 2007Regardless of your opinion of the reality and/or causes of climate change, I suspect these are the relevant questions for the mining industry read more » Clean CoalFriday, January 19, 2007The coal trains slide forever across the plains of Wyoming and Nebraska. The train seems never to end. It is an impressive sight to see the coal trains dominate the horizon as one drives along highway I80. read more » Cyanide Code ComplianceTuesday, January 09, 2007Seldom does reading the news lift my spirits and make me feel warm inside. A happy exception is this announcement [edited and shortened by me]: "The Marigold mine in Nevada read more » BLM Mined Land ReclamationMonday, December 04, 2006A comprehensive manual on mine reclamation is probably a pipe dream. The topic is too large and multi-disciplinary to get all the information in one volume. read more » Water Management for MinesMonday, November 27, 2006Ralph B. Peck said that he read the adverts in new magazines first. He maintained that if you truly want to know what is developing technically in your field, you should follow the adverts before turning to the technical papers read more » ARD ConferencesThursday, November 23, 2006Shannon Shaw is well known for her many fine writings on the topic of Acid Mine/Rock Drainage. She recommended that I post a piece on upcoming conferences on ARD/AMD. Accordingly, here is a list of upcoming conferences read more » Idaho Maryland GoldMonday, November 20, 2006The best news I have had today is that somebody is trying to reopen a mine in California. I have traveled often through the area and was talking to a friend who lives in Grass Valley. read more » Oil Sands ReclamationFriday, November 17, 2006Can we reclaim the oil sands operations? A pretty obvious question. Many, many answers. I surveyed 350 Google hits from the key words “oil sands reclamation.” read more » United Nations on MiningFriday, November 17, 2006I must bring your attention to this site. I have not previously come across it, and write about it so that you too can access it, if like me you have not yet had the pleasure. read more » Hedley MillWednesday, November 15, 2006I recently visited the old mining town of Hedley, British Columbia, Canada, with some friends. Visible from the highway are the remains of a gravity-fed stamp mill that was constructed in 1903. read more » Progress on the Quest for Sustainability at Britannia BeachTuesday, November 07, 2006BioteQ appears to be moving in on the opportunity at Britannia Beach. International Mining reports in its October edition about a re-evaluation of the use of BioteQ's technology to remove saleable metal read more » Good Practice Mining PublicationsFriday, November 03, 2006The International Council on Mining & Metals (ICMM) website on Tailings: Good Practice continues to bring us easy access to view or purchase books newly posted/advertised on their site. Here are some read more » Law LibraryFriday, November 03, 2006Need I say more? The best law library on the web? Go to the Madcom Law Library. read more » How Do We Reclaim Oilsands?Thursday, November 02, 2006Oilsands are touted as the cure-all solution to the world’s energy woes. Massive deposits in Canada contain 174 billion barrels of oil that are deemed recoverable with current technology. read more » Mine Reclamation Cost Estimating Computer CodesTuesday, October 24, 2006Why do none of the InfoMine Tools ever get used anymore? In answer to this question from a colleague, I guessed that nobody likes doing simple calculations anymore—we all like fancy black box computer codes. read more » Tailings Are Useful?Monday, September 18, 2006Why are tailings not used as construction material? It seems to me that tailings form a large body of known dimensions of uniformly sized particles that could be used for something. read more » Acid Mine DrainageThursday, September 14, 2006“Most sites have a lot of Fe in their acid mine drainage.” True. But how do you treat it? I do not know. But the answer is on the web. This is what I found. read more » Conservation on the Minds of Recreational MinersTuesday, October 17, 2006I spent a few days of my vacation in the Cariboo region of British Columbia, Canada. This area is known as ‘gold country’ because rich placer deposits found here triggered a gold rush in the 1860's. read more » Mining AntarcticaWednesday, August 23, 2006Australia plans to introduce tough new laws that will penalize anyone attempting mining operations in the Antarctic. A bill recently introduced recently would set penalties of up to 16 years in jail to violators. read more » Sustainability from Environmental Disaster?Tuesday, October 17, 2006Sustainability and the environment are two important parts of mining in today’s society. Overly optimistic thinkers say that mining can be eliminated as an activity essential to our lifestyle. read more » |
|
|
|
