Feature Stories
Birth of the Basin: Belle Ayr Mine Started a Decades-long Boom for PRB Coal
July 23, 2019
Michael Hopper was a fresh-faced 20-year-old new to Wyoming’s wide-open spaces and next-cowboy-up, blue-collar philosophy when he rolled into Gillette in 1972. He packed his two-wheel-drive GTO muscle car with what it could hold and drove more than 1,200 miles
There’s Still Life in Coal
July 23, 2019
International coal prices have fallen sharply over recent months. The spot free on board (FOB) price of coal shipped from Australia’s Newcastle export terminal stood at $72.50/t on 13 June 2019, 40pc below a peak of $120/t reached in July
Pink Diamond Tender Dazzles at Rio Tinto’s Argyle Mine as It Nears End of Era
July 16, 2019
One of its last collections of the world’s rarest pink and red diamonds has been unveiled by Rio Tinto in a historic preview at the Argyle mine in Western Australia’s far north. The East Kimberley mine produces more than 90
Wyoming’s First Coal Mine to Open is in Danger of Closing
July 15, 2019
Belle Ayr, a strip mine that sits in the northeast corner of Wyoming, was the very first strip mine to open in the West back in 1972, kicking off a shifting of the coal industry from the eastern U.S. to
Capturing Carbon Emissions Could Move World to Clean Energy Future
July 11, 2019
The United States and the world will be using fossil fuels for some time. This, to borrow a phrase, is an inconvenient fact. But it is one that our country must come to terms with if we are to create
Residents Worried About Future in Heart of Wyoming’s Coal Country
July 9, 2019
Sandie Jones worked as a coal miner here for over three decades, witnessing firsthand the expansion of the city that has dubbed itself the Energy Capital of the Nation. During summers as a child, Jones stayed in her aunt and
International Uranium Battles Could Mean Windfall for Wyoming Mining Interests
July 2, 2019
Wyoming is home to one of the largest untapped reserves of uranium in the world. Those reserves remain largely untapped though, and for years the United States has procured the majority of the nation’s uranium supply from sources abroad. But
Mining Magnate Ross Beaty Fights to Preserve Princess Louisa Inlet, B.C.
June 27, 2019
Ross Beaty was 10 years old when he first visited Princess Louisa Inlet. The mining magnate spent a summer boating there with his father, trying to dodge stray logs in the water — “sometimes successfully and sometimes not so much,”
U.K.’s Largest and Only Asteroid Mining Company has Designs on Our Skies
June 25, 2019
When he was asked to select a topic for his university thesis, Mitch Hunter-Scullion, a man with the kind of memorable name worthy of a series of popular techno-thrillers, decided to write about asteroid mining. The dream of extracting valuable
In Wyoming’s Coal Country, Locals Greet News of Massive Mine Deal with Optimism
June 24, 2019
Hank’s Roadside Bar & Grill sits just down Highway 59 from the two biggest coal mines in the United States. On June 19, the community here learned that the mines, North Antelope Rochelle and Black Thunder, will be operated as
