• Current News
• Africa
• Alabama
• Alaska
• Antarctic
• Archaeology
• Arctic
• Arizona
• Arkansas
• Asia
• Astronomy
• Atlantic
• Australia
• Bakken Shale
• Barnett Shale
• California
• Canada
• Caribbean Sea
• Caves and Karst
• Central America
• Chile
• China
• Coal
• Coastal Geology
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Contamination
• Copper
• Delaware
• Diamonds
• Dimension Stone
• Dinosaurs
• Dust Storm
• Earthquakes
• Energy
• Engineering Geology
• Environment
• Europe
• Fayetteville Shale
• Floods
• Florida
• Fossils
• Gemstones
• Geography
• Geologist Career
• Geology for Kids
• Geology.com
• Georgia
• Geothermal
• Glaciers
• Global Warming
• Gold
• Google
• GPS and GIS
• Great Websites
• Ground Water
• Gulf of Mexico
• Haiti
• Hawaii
• Haynesville Shale
• Historical Geology
• Hurricanes and Cyclones
• Idaho
• Illinois
• India
• Indiana
• Indonesia
• Interesting
• Iowa
• Japan
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Lakes
• Landslides
• LNG
• Louisiana
• Maine
• Maps
• Marcellus Shale
• Mars
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Metals
• Meteorology
• Meteors and Meteorites
• Mexico
• Michigan
• Minerals
• Mining
• Minnesota
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Montana
• NASA
• Natural Gas
• Natural Hazards
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• New York
• North Carolina
• North Dakota
• Oceanography
• Ohio
• Oil and Gas
• Oklahoma
• OPEC
• Oregon
• Pacific
• Pennsylvania
• Philippines
• Plants
• Plate Tectonics
• Politics and Geology
• Redoubt Volcano
• Rhode Island
• Rivers
• Russia
• Satellite Images
• Soil
• Solar Power
• South America
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Space
• Subsidence
• Teaching Science
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Tornadoes
• Tsunami
• United States
• Uranium
• USGS
• Utah
• Utica Shale
• Vehicles
• Vermont
• Virginia
• Volcanoes
• Washington
• Water
• West Virginia
• Wildfire
• Wildlife
• Wind Energy
• Wisconsin
• Wyoming

Geology News
Mining Current Events

In Bangladesh, hundreds of people have initiated a hunger strike in front of the gates of a coal mining company. They are demanding compensation for subsidence damage that occurred to their homes above the company’s mine.

The United States currently imports most of its rare earth minerals from China. However, China may stop exporting in the near future to assure its own needs. Unfortunately, the United States has very few rare earth mineral deposits. This article at MSNBC explores the importance of rare earth minerals and who owns the known U.S. deposits.

The Pennsylvania mine subsidence insurance program has increased the maximum coverage for a dwelling from $250,000 to $500,000.

“The National Research Council has agreed to conduct a statewide scientific study on uranium mining in Virginia.” Most people do not realize that the Coles Hill uranium deposit near Chatham, Virginia is one of the largest in the United States.

“Surface coal mining in the mountainous areas of Appalachia—often called “mountaintop mining”—generates controversy, in part because of its scale and the post-mining appearance of the land. Yet there is limited public access to information on the size, location, and life span of these operations, or on how the land can be expected to look afterward. GAO was asked to report on the characteristics of (1) surface coal mining and (2) reclaimed lands that were disturbed by surface coal mining in the mountainous, eastern part of Kentucky and in West Virginia, where most such mining occurs.”

A group of scientists is asking the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to suspend new permits for mountaintop mining in the United States. Some of their concerns about mountaintop removal mining are water contamination, effects on organisms living downstream of valley fills, and human health in mining regions.

“Native Americans of the Miwok tribe in the northern Sierra Nevada, California carved basins into granite bedrock to produce salt for trade. They filled the basins with water from a salt spring and let the water evaporate, leaving a salt residue in the basin.” USGS reports that this is the oldest evidence of business in North America.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has a new article that provides a brief overview of seafloor minerals, seafloor mining, who regulates seafloor mining and how environmental impact might be limited during mineral extraction. They also have two Flash presentations on seafloor mineral deposits and seafloor mining.

In the ranking of the world’s proven oil reserves, Canada stands behind only Saudi Arabia. Canada possesses an estimated 178.6 billion barrels of crude oil accessible using current technology. Of this reserve, 174 billion barrels are in Alberta’s Athabasca oil sand fields.

“A financial analysis of the global copper market predicts uncertainty in the short term but the possibility of “severe shortages and much higher prices” in the longer term.” Quoted from the Arizona Geology Blog.

The Kimberly Process is a set of standards that a diamond-producing country must meet to assure that the stones are produced legally and without human exploitation. Zimbabwe could be told to stop exporting diamonds until it complies with the KP standards.

“Gold mining permits, or claims, on file with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for California have shot from 15,606 in 2005 to 23,974 this year.” Quoted from the SFGate article.

Article: The Many Uses of Gold

About a dozen virtual tours of global environmental “hot spots” will be featured at the December 17-18 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. One of the hotspots is a mountaintop removal coal mine in West Virginia.

A YMCA in Illinois sustained over $350,000 in damages from mine subsidence and then was told their insurance does not cover the damage. Now the Y will sue the insurance companies.

Related: What Homeowners Insurance Does Not Cover.

EPA plans to revoke an issued permit for a mountain top removal coal mine in West Virginia. The agency says that the surface mining operation could violate the Clean Water Act.

An angry audience at a public hearing on mountain-top removal mining in West Virginia had representatives from the Army Corps of Engineers making decisions on how to handle a crowd.

This satellite image shows the Carajas Iron Ore Mine, located in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil. The open-pit mine has one of the biggest iron ore deposits ever discovered.

A diverse set of historical maps, reports, letters, and photos on mining in Arizona from the Arizona Geological Survey archives is now available online in the new “Arizona Mines” section of the Arizona Memory Project.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is holding 79 coal-mining permits that use the controversial mining method of “mountaintop removal”. EPA is considering their potential impact on water quality.

One of the largest diamonds in history was discovered at the Cullinan Diamond Mine in South Africa. The 507-carat white stone is one of many spectacular gems from the Cullinan Mine.

Related: World Diamond Production Map

Nick Rahall, Chairman of the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee, introduced a bill that could change the rules for leasing and paying royalties on mineral, oil and natural gas activities on public lands.

The Benld Elementary School in Benld, Illinois has been damaged by mine subsidence. An article on the Boston.com website tells several stories about mine subsidence in Illinois, Kentucky, Pennsylvania states.

The Illinois Geological Survey has a publication titled “Mine Subsidence in Illinois: Facts for Homeowners”. This is a useful and easy-to-understand publication that features: underground mining methods, mine maps, types of subsidence, effects of subsidence and other topics for the homeowner.

In most states mine subsidence insurance is not a hazard covered by the typical homeowners insurance policy. In Illinois, coverage is automatically added to policies in counties where 1% or more of the land has been undermined.

Scott Kleine of Great Basin Minerals shares a few photos from his visit to a working gold trommel at a location near Sumpter, Oregon.

Related: Uses of Gold.

Lots of people are extremely interested in uranium exploration and mining projects in Arizona and Colorado. Lee Alison links to a number of news articles here, and here, and here from his Arizona Geology Blog.