Latest Mining Headlines

All the headlines from our Mining Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Mine Worker Advocates Worried Coal Firm’s Tax Cut Jeopardizes Black Lung Fund

Mar 22 2019 // The Trump administration and coal industry allies are insisting that a federal black lung trust fund will continue to pay benefits to sick miners despite a drastic cut in funding.But the expected shortfalls will be covered...

Brazil’s Backlash over Vale Dam Disaster Deepens with Mine Closure, Frozen Funds

Mar 19 2019 // Vale SA’s shares declined on Monday as the world’s biggest iron ore producer faced continued backlash from Brazilian authorities after a deadly mining accident in January.Rio de Janeiro-based Vale was ordered...

Brazil Miner Vale Fired Inspection Firm for Refusing to Certify Dam’s Safety: Prosecutors

Mar 6 2019 // Brazilian iron ore miner Vale fired an inspection firm because the company refused to certify one of its dams as safe, months before the barrier collapsed and killed hundreds, prosecutors said in a document filed this...

Brazil Tailings Dam Disaster Pushes Mining CEOs to Make Safety Changes

Feb 27 2019 // After last month’s deadly tailings dam disaster at a Vale SA facility in Brazil, Freeport-McMoRan Inc Chief Executive Richard Adkerson sent a memo to his 29,000 employees telling them to immediately report any safety...

Brazil Miner Vale Knew Its Tailings Dam Had Higher Risk of Collapse: Reuters

Feb 12 2019 // Vale SA , the world’s largest iron ore miner, knew last year that the dam in Brazil that collapsed in January and killed at least 165 people had a heightened risk of rupturing, according to an internal document seen...

Brazil’s Burst Dam Disasters Blamed on Cheap Storage of Mining Waste

Feb 1 2019 // The deadly collapse of a Vale SA tailings dam in Brazil is serving as a wake-up call for an industry that regularly cuts costs by storing mining waste in the cheapest possible way.The slurry of ground rock and effluents...

Brazil Dam Disaster Could Delay Settlement for 2015’s Samarco Mine Disaster

Jan 30 2019 // Brazil’s deadly tailings dam collapse is likely to complicate a settlement for a similar disaster less than four years ago at the Samarco iron ore mine, owned jointly by Vale SA and BHP Group, investors said on...

Brazil Weighs Management Overhaul at Vale After Mine Disaster; Death Toll Rises

Jan 29 2019 // Brazil’s government weighed pushing for a management overhaul at iron ore miner Vale SA on Monday as grief over the hundreds feared killed by a dam burst turned into anger, with prosecutors, politicians and...

Collapsed Brazil Mining Dam Kills at Least 58, in Echoes of 2015 Disaster

Jan 28 2019 // Brazilian rescuers searched into the night on Sunday for hundreds of people missing after a burst mining dam triggered a deadly mudslide, as the death toll rose to 58 and was expected to keep climbing more than two days...

Kentucky Coal-Mining Deaths at Record Low in 2018

Jan 14 2019 // The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration says coal-mining related deaths have reached a record low in Kentucky where a single miner died last year. The Lexington Herald-Leader reports the agency said Jan. 8 that...

Tropical Cyclone Penny Slams North Australia Coast Near Rio Tinto Mine

Jan 2 2019 // Tropical Cyclone Penny slammed into the far north coast of Australia’s Queensland state near Rio Tinto Group’s Weipa bauxite mine, triggering warnings of flash flooding and damaging winds. The category 1...

Australia Court Narrows Class-Action Suits Against BHP over Brazil Mine Disaster

Dec 19 2018 // The Federal Court of Australia on Tuesday ordered that the number of class-action lawsuits against BHP Group over a Brazilian mine collapse be narrowed to one from three.BHP is facing legal challenges over the 2015...

BHP Readies for Largest English Group Lawsuit over 2015 Brazil Mine Disaster

Nov 26 2018 // Mining giant BHP says it will fight an unprecedented English lawsuit filed by hundreds of thousands of Brazilians for multi-billion pound damages over Brazil’s worst environmental disaster.SPG Law, a British offshoot...

West Virginia Gov Makes 3 Appointments to Miners’ Health Safety Office

Nov 16 2018 // West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has made three appointments to the state’s Office of Miners’ Health Safety and Training.The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that Justice said in a news release that he appointed...

Man Dies 2 Days After $2.6M Verdict in Montana Mine Lawsuit

Nov 9 2018 // A man who fought for more than a decade to maintain his rights to a mining claim in northwestern Montana died two days after a jury awarded him nearly $2.6 million.A Lincoln County jury awarded the money to Arnold Bakie...

North Carolina Emerald Mine Robbed of $100K in Rare Gems

Oct 29 2018 // A heist has wiped a North Carolina emerald mine out of an estimated $100,000 in rare precious gems and gold jewelry.An Alexander County Sheriff’s Office release says thieves broke into, vandalized and robbed Emerald...

Injury Rates Jump at Coal Giant Murray’s West Virginia Mines

Oct 26 2018 // Injury rates have more than doubled at five West Virginia coal mines acquired by Murray Energy Corp. in 2013, according to a Reuters review of federal data, as the firm sharply increased the amount of coal produced per...

Kentucky Fines Justice Companies Additional $3M Over Coal Mine Clean-Ups

Aug 24 2018 // West Virginia Governor Jim Justice’s family coal companies are breaching their environmental responsibilities, according to Kentucky regulators, who are seeking millions in additional fines for surface mining areas...

Safety Agency Finds 10% of Veteran Coal Miners Have Black Lung Disease

Jul 20 2018 // More than 10 percent of America’s coal miners with 25 or more years of experience have black lung disease, the highest rate recorded in roughly two decades, according to a government study released on Thursday that...

Kentucky Coal Mine Supervisors Face Charges Over Rigged Dust Monitoring

Jul 16 2018 // Eight former supervisors and safety officers at a Kentucky coal company were indicted on federal charges that they rigged dust monitoring in underground mines, forcing miners to work in the kind of dirty conditions that...