Feature Stories
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
Biogas Could Provide New Life for Illinois Coal Mines
June 12, 2019
The coal in the Illinois Basin has been there for about 300 million years, but it has not just been sitting beneath the earth inert. Billions of microbes are slowly feasting on the coal. And as this decomposition happens, methane
Navajo Nation’s White Mesa was Rare Northern Arizona Copper Site
June 11, 2019
Located on the Navajo Reservation 109 miles north of Flagstaff, the White Mesa mining district is one of the few documented producers of copper in Northern Arizona’s Colorado Plateau. Disseminated copper mineralization in Mesozoic sandstone and conglomerate is widely dispersed
