Feature Stories
Anglo American Pilots Hydrogen Power Technology for Its Mining Trucks at Mogalakwena Platinum Mine
December 21, 2021
Mining trucks are monstrous machines that guzzle fuel at a scarcely believable rate. Weighing 220 tonnes, they can get through 134 liters of diesel every hour. Little wonder then that mining companies are focusing their attention on these vehicles as
The Achilles’ Heel of Biden’s Climate Plan? Coal Miners
December 13, 2021
For years, environmentalists have sought compromises with labor unions in industries reliant on fossil fuels, aware that one of the biggest obstacles to cutting carbon emissions is opposition from the unions’ members. States like Washington, New York, and Illinois have
Idaho Tribe Accepts Massive Battery Made With Chinese Lithium While Protesting U.S. Mining
December 9, 2021
The Nez Perce Indians of northern Idaho received the state’s first large-scale battery from Tesla in November. About the size of a standard shipping container, the Tesla Megapack will store power from solar panels, enabling the tribe to reduce its
Opinion: Greenflation is Heading This Way Fast
December 8, 2021
Rising inflation and an insecure minerals supply chain are threatening to disrupt the development of green energy technologies and hamper the production of renewables and electric cars. Some energy experts are warning that deeply constrained supplies of energy transition metals,
Will Coal’s Survival Kill Efforts to Combat Climate Change?
December 2, 2021
A post-Covid economic rebound is good stuff. But it can sap the enthusiasm when it leads to supply chain disruptions and natural gas price spikes. If that causes more coal use, it could kill the global effort to curb climate
United Nations Touts Virginia Tech Mining Engineering Class as Model of Sustainability Education
November 29, 2021
A Virginia Tech professor and a handful of international collaborators have gone global with their work to educate a new generation of mining engineers — and they’ve garnered United Nations recognition for it. Emily Sarver, an associate professor of mining
Carbon Capture May Not Be Coal’s Savior. But it Could Spawn an Industry All Its Own.
November 23, 2021
Eleven years ago, Wyoming was worried about its coal plants. Not because of waning demand — coal production had just peaked — but because the Obama administration wanted to see carbon capture commercialized by 2020. The former president’s contentious Clean
Joe Biden’s America-Last Energy Policy
November 23, 2021
Alarmed by the speed at which the comparisons to Jimmy Carter are mounting, President Biden has sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission in which he pretends to believe that America’s sky-high gas prices are the result of “anti-consumer
The Biden Administration Considers War on Midwestern Energy With Line 5 Expansion Project
November 23, 2021
Imagine this: You get called into your boss’s office. You’re told, “The company is studying the potential impacts of firing you,” but then the boss immediately backtracks, saying, “There’s some confusion here; that’s something we’re not going to do.” Would
A Hydrogen Breakthrough That Works Like ‘A Coal Mine In Reverse’
November 22, 2021
As COP26, the UN’s 26th climate change summit, just confirmed, hydrogen is critical to decarbonizing the planet. According to the International Energy Agency, demand should increase six-fold over the next 30 years in our pursuit of net zero carbon emissions.
