All the headlines from our Mining Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Feb 20 2012 // After every high-profile disaster, regulators step up their enforcement and most coal operators take a second look at safety. Then, over time, both grow complacent. Until the next disaster.“You look away for a...
Feb 9 2012 // West Virginia must hold coal operators accountable for any negligence or misconduct to prevent another Upper Big Branch, the worst U.S. coal mine disaster in four decades, the state’s special investigator of that...
Feb 7 2012 // A West Virginia company is working on a piece of equipment designed to keep miners safer.Trinity Resources, headquartered in Putnam County, demonstrated its a mobile mine safety chamber this week at the West Virginia...
Feb 6 2012 // In 2011, the mining insurance market was not only hit by $2.7 billion in natural catastrophe losses, but over 60 operational losses totaling $835 million. The $3.5 billion total estimate of losses facing mining insurers...
Feb 5 2012 // If there’s one lasting cultural change Mine Safety and Health Administration Director Joe Main wants to make in both the federal agency and the industry it regulates, it’s ending the cycle of intensity and...
Feb 3 2012 // Coal operators across the country are changing the way they work, and mines are becoming safer, but the head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration said Thursday there are still too many who...
Feb 3 2012 // Heavy rains shut four coal mines in eastern Australia on Friday as military helicopters evacuated stranded residents from inundated towns, and authorities warned of further flash flooding.More than 11,000 people in...
Jan 31 2012 // Voters in Lowell and Eden are going to vote on whether to request that an abandoned asbestos mine be declared a federal Superfund hazardous waste site so it can be cleaned up and eventually redeveloped as a biomass power...
Jan 18 2012 // For two West Virginia lawmakers who lost fathers in coal mining accidents, preventing disasters like the 2010 Upper Big Branch explosion has taken a personal turn with Monday’s introduction of a bipartisan safety...
Jan 11 2012 // Coal company Alpha Natural Resources has reached settlements with all the families of the miners killed in the worst U.S. mining disaster in four decades, a lawyer for two of the families said on Wednesday.Mark Moreland...
Jan 9 2012 // Clean air groups are making good on a promise to sue Kennecott Utah Copper over air pollution.The groups say Kennecott is kicking up too much dust at its Bingham copper mine and should curtail operations. They say...
Dec 22 2011 // Mining companies will need to disclose to investors information about health and safety violations under new rules adopted on Wednesday by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.The rules, which are required by last...
Dec 21 2011 // Clean air groups are making good on a promise to sue Kennecott Utah Copper over air pollution.The groups say Kennecott is kicking up too much dust at its Bingham copper mine and should curtail operations. They say...
Dec 13 2011 // Newly disclosed records show U.S. Labor Department officials stopped independent investigators from questioning how federal regulators handled methane leaks from the floor of the Upper Big Branch mine several times before...
Nov 18 2011 // Settlements have been approved in the six remaining wrongful-death lawsuits filed by the families of miners who died in the 2006 Sago Mine disaster in West Virginia.Circuit Judge Charles King also signed off on several...
Nov 9 2011 // A foreman has been killed at an underground mine in eastern Kentucky, the third mine-related fatality in the state in 10 days.State officials said in a statement that due to the recent deaths, analysts from the Office of...
Nov 7 2011 // A West Virginia judge will consider approving a settlement in the six remaining wrongful-death lawsuits filed by the families of miners who died in the Sago Mine disaster.The workers were killed after a powerful methane...
Nov 4 2011 // The number of mine injuries has been cut in the five months since Alpha Natural Resources bought Massey Energy, which had owned the coal mine where 29 men died in a blast last year, Alpha’s CEO said...
Oct 26 2011 // The former security chief at a West Virginia coal mine where 29 miners died last year was convicted of two felonies Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.Hughie Elbert Stover, 60, was convicted by a federal jury...
Oct 24 2011 // The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration’s continuing crackdown on the coal industry hasn’t deterred the industry’s growth, director Joe Main said Friday.From April 2010 to June 2011, the number...