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Tag: mining

  • Next Mining Venture: The Moon and Asteroids

    Next Mining Venture: The Moon and Asteroids

    President Trump signed an executive order further solidifying U.S. policy toward mining and resource acquisition in space.

    According to Space.com, the executive order has been in the works for roughly a year, and is “called Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources.” The order follows the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, not the 1979 Moon Treaty that was largely ignored by the U.S. and other space-capable nations. Under the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, mining and resource gathering in space is allowed.

    “As America prepares to return humans to the moon and journey on to Mars, this executive order establishes U.S. policy toward the recovery and use of space resources, such as water and certain minerals, in order to encourage the commercial development of space,” said Scott Pace, deputy assistant to the president and executive secretary of the U.S. National Space Council.

    With the U.S. once again making space exploration a priority, including a planned moon based within the decade, this executive order provides clear guidelines for U.S. space organizations.

  • Renewable Energy to Become Important For Mining

    In a possible sign of what’s to come, new signals in the mining industry indicate that renewable energy amy soon power mining operations in many places across the world.

    Market research firm Navigant Research today issued a report showing that mining companies, which use massive amounts of energy, are now looking to reduce the costs of rising energy prices. Many mine sites, especially those in remote locations, could soon come to rely heavily on renewable energy technologies.

    The report estimates that at least 5% of the energy used by the mining industry by the year 2022 will come from renewable sources. According to Navigant, less than 0.1% of the industry’s current energy consumption is from renewable sources.

    Moving into the next few years, wind power will become the most important renewable energy technology to the mining industry, making up over half of the industry’s renewable energy by 2022. Solar power will come next in popularity, supplying a bit less than half of the industry’s renewable energy.

    “A number of mines are already utilizing large-scale wind power, but these sites were chosen based on extreme needs and/or ideal wind characteristics,” said Kerry-Ann Adamson, research director at Navigant. “The industry is now at a point where it can move forward into larger and more complex deployments, potentially including energy storage technologies, which would enable a higher percentage of renewable use per mine site.”

  • Bristol Bay Salmon In Danger- Effects Of Mining

    Many Alaskans make a living by fishing for Salmon. Bristol Bay is one of the top fishing spots in Alaska and now it could be at risk for devastation, thanks to a mining. A recent report released by the government says that there is a large-scale copper and gold mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region. If the area is mined, much of Bristol Bay could be destroyed.

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency conducted an assessment on the mine to see what kind of effects it would have on the bay and surrounding area. The assessment shows, that depending on the size of the mine, up to 94 miles of streams would be destroyed in the mere build-out of the project, including losses of between 5 and 22 miles of streams known to provide salmon spawning and rearing habitat. Up to 5,350 acres of wetlands, ponds and lakes also would be lost due to the mine footprint.

    If the mining were to become long term, the salmon population would shrink significantly and many of the residents in the Bristol Bay area would suffer as well. Further consequences of the mine include pollution runoff from the mine that could get into stream water and the possible failure of a tailings dam.

    John Shively, the chief executive of the Pebble Limited Partnership, which was created to design, permit and run the mine, claims that the report is inaccurate. He accused the EPA of not spending enough time on the report and insists that the mine would not be harmful to the salmon populations or nearby residents. He called the report “a poorly conceived and poorly executed study, and it cannot serve as the scientific basis for any decisions concerning Pebble.”

    Do you think the Pebble Limited Partnership should be allowed to mine in Bristol Bay after learning of the EPA’s assessment?

    Image via Wikimedia Commons.

  • Colorado Mine Accident Kills 2, Injures 20

    Two miners died, and 20 more were injured, after an accident involving carbon monoxide occurred at the Revenue-Virginius Mine in Ouray County, Colorado on Sunday. The incident occurred at 7:20 a.m., and emergency crews immediately responded.

    Star Mines operations manager Rory Williams said the two miners who perished likely died from carbon monoxide poisoning, adding that the gases may have been released during blasting on Saturday, or earlier. “Some miners were attempting to save the others and started to feel effects of gas and had to leave the area prior to being able to help the other individuals,” said Williams.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFqPNiZ6RQs

    The miners who died have been identified as Nick Cappanno, 34 of Montrose, and Rick Williams, 59, of Durango. The Coroner’s preliminary findings confirmed that the cause of death for both men was carbon monoxide poisoning. Complete autopsies are pending.

    Amy Louviere, public affairs officer for the Mine Safety and Health Administration, said, “A foreman and one miner were overcome by gases following an explosives accident. Other miners in the area evacuated the mine. Mine rescue teams were dispatched and brought the victims to the surface at 2 p.m.”

    According to Silver Star Resources, the Revenue-Virginius mine is a silver, lead, zinc, copper and gold mine located in central Colorado. The mine has a historical non 43-101 compliant reserve, with large exploration potential. The deposit consists of high grade narrow mesothermal quartz veins.

    Williams said that all miners wear portable gas detectors that register four different dangerous gases. Investigators were examining the detectors worn by the deceased, to see if they were on and working properly.

    The accident occurred roughly 8,000 feet from the mine entrance, in a horizontal shaft at the same level. Of the 20 taken to hospitals, 16 were treated and released, while the rest remained hospitalized as of 10 p.m. Sunday night. Two miners were admitted to Montrose Memorial Hospital, in fair condition, one was admitted to Delta County Memorial Hospital in fair condition, and one was admitted at St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction.

    Image via YouTube.

  • Grand Canyon Mine Halted Due to Financial Restraints

    The Grand Canyon is perhaps best known for its role as an amazing, awe-inspiring sight of nature’s beauty and power, a beautiful American landmark that brings flocks of tourists (and their wallets) to areas that might not otherwise have a chance at much revenue. A lesser-known aspect of the Grand Canyon, however, is the multiple mining projects that go on around the national landmark. Such endeavors are proving to be less profitable than is ideal, however, as one mining company has decided to halt its endeavors in the grand canyon due to financial restraints.

    A uranium mining company, in the midst of sinking a shaft for a mine just south of the Grand Canyon National Park, put its work on hold due to “market conditions and the expense of litigation.” The company, Energy Fuels Resources Inc, stated that the project will be halted until December of 2014, over a year from now, or “until a ruling is issued in a federal case challenging the U.S. Forest Service’s decision to allow development of the Canyon Mine near Tusayan.” The company had previously stated that they planned to extract 83,000 tons of ore to create 1.6 million pounds of processed uranium (“yellow cake”), but the time frame will now need re-evaluating in the face of halted production.

    Financial restraints might not be the only reason the mine has been halted, however. A local Native american tribe and multiple conservation groups have been working to halt the mine’s production for years, saying that the mine posed “potential harm to waters and wildlife of Grand Canyon, as well as cultural resources.” This constant backlash, as well as record-low prices for yellow cake uranium, have finally condemned the mine to a stand-still until some compromises can be met.

    Sandy Bahr of the Sierra Club was quoted as saying, “Obviously this is an indication that it doesn’t look good from an economic perspective. We obviously think that it has never looked good from an environmental perspective. It would be nice if they would also recognize that aspect of it and make the shutdown permanent.” With prices low and the backlash strong, it seems like this mine may soon meet a permanent end.

    [Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.]

  • Australian Miners Fired for Harlem Shake Video [REPORT]

    According to one Australian mining outfit, doing the Harlem Shake on the job is a fireable offense.

    ABC News is reporting that at least 15 miners at the Agnew Gold mine in Western Australia were canned after posting their own version of the Harlem Shake to YouTube. The 15 fired miners include participants in the video as well as those who simply watched it take place.

    According to Barminco, the company that runs the mine, the Harlem Shake constituted at safety hazard and did not represent the company’s “core values of safety, integrity and excellence.”

    You can watch the totally innocuous underground Harlem Shake below and decide if you think it deserved this kind of response:

    Not only were the miners fired from their current gig, but Barminco also banned the workers from being “subcontracted by Barminco at any site domestically and globally.”

    All of this for 30 seconds of (admittedly ridiculous) fun.

    If you think that the firing was a little over the top, you can express your support for the miners on the Reinstate the sacked WA Harlem Shake Miners Facebook page.

  • Asteroid Worth $195B to Swing By Earth on February 15

    On February 15 an asteroid named 2012 DA14 will pass very close to the Earth. It will swing within just 17,200 miles of the planet’s surface, which is well within the orbit of the man-made geosynchronous satellites that orbit the Earth. By coming within just one-thirteenth the distance from the Earth to the moon, the asteroid will set a record for close approach by an object of its size.

    This week Deep Space Industries (DSI), a company that wants to develop the technology to mine asteroids, made the somewhat melancholic estimate that DA14 could contain metals and propellant worth as much as $195 billion. Since the asteroid will fly by the Earth traveling at 17,400 miles per hour, however, it isn’t practical to mine.

    “While this week’s visitor isn’t going the right way for us to harvest it, there will be others that are, and we want to be ready when they arrive,” said Rick Tumlinson, Chairman of DSI. “Even with conservative estimates of the potential value of any given asteroid, if we begin to utilize them in space they are all the equivalent of a space oasis for refueling and resupply.”

    NASA has estimated that DA14 is only about 150 feet across, but DSI believes that is still big enough to be worth billions. DSI “experts” estimate that if 10% of the asteroid were made of minable metals, they could be worth $130 billion. If another 5% of the asteroid could be mined for water, it could be used as $65 billion worth of rocket fuel in space.

    DSI is hoping to begin space mining around the year 2020. In the meantime, the company will be sending “FireFly” probes to examine asteroids, and later “DragonFly” probes that will take samples of the asteroid.

    NASA will also be sending probes to investigate asteroids before 2020. In 2016, the agency will launch the OSIRIS-REx probe, which will visit the Earth-threatening asteroid 1999 RQ36.

  • Planetary Resources Shows Off Some New Asteroid Mining Tech

    Remember Planetary Resources? It’s the startup funded by the Google co-founders, James Cameron and others. The company’s goal is to send mining robots into space and collect valuable minerals and elements from the numerous asteroids that fly around our solar system.

    Now, it’s been a while since the company has last updated the public on what it’s doing, but a video uploaded over the weekend should give you a good idea of the tech the company is investing in for its future goals of mining asteroids.

    The tech on display today is called the Arkyd-100 Space Telescope. The device will be a prospector of sorts that will look for potentially mineral-rich asteroids. The team says the 11 kg telescope is “the most advanced spacecraft per kilogram that exists today.

    Be sure to check out the tour of some of the facilities at the end that show some of the work being done with lasers and prototyping. It’s all very impressive.

    I’m not going to pretend I understood everything that he just said, but I do understand that what these guys are doing is extremely important. Much of Earth’s resources are finite. We can alleviate the stress put on our own resources by collecting the same, and maybe even new, resources from asteroids and other heavenly bodies that orbit around earth, our sun, or any of the other planets in the solar system.

    Let’s just hope the technology doesn’t alter the orbits of asteroids and send them straight to Earth. I don’t think a Steven Tyler ballad can save us from that.