Feature Stories
Father’s Day has Special Meaning for Father-Son Duos Working at Donkin Coal Mine
June 19, 2018
Just in time for Father’s Day, five sets of fathers and sons have been unearthed at Donkin Mine. One of those duos is Chris Thomson, 34, of Reserve Mines, and his father Willie Thomson, 59. “I’ve worked with my father
Germany Turns Former Coal Mines into Lakeside Resorts With Environmental Cleanup
June 18, 2018
As the sun beats down on a small vineyard by the rippling waters of Grossraeschen Lake, there’s little sign of the vast wound that lies beneath. Meuro, the brown-black mine that once dominated the landscape, providing jobs to thousands of
The Last of West Virginia’s King of Coal Tracy Hylton Passes Away
June 14, 2018
Tracy Hylton, a businessman whom Gov. Jim Justice styled as the last “king” of coal in southern West Virginia, died on Sunday. Born on the Fourth of July, Hylton was nearly 96 years old and living at The Village at
Inside Idaho’s Abandoned Mines
June 4, 2018
A century-old gold mine is a curious place, and that’s a problem for those whose job it is to find bats and blasting caps as worrisome as the public finds them to be wondrous. When the 2015 fire in Owyhee
Germany’s Mining Communities Brace for Post-coal Era
June 4, 2018
Stephan Barth steers his SUV across the hilly terrain of the Profen open-pit coal mine, monitoring conveyor belts transporting freshly extracted coal. He is out in the mine come snow storm or heat wave. He works weekend and night shifts.
EPA Emboldens Colorado Mining Industry While Superfund Cleanups Lag
May 29, 2018
In the 1980s, as Vail was gaining international fame as a global ski destination and Beaver Creek was struggling through its formative years, there was a dirty little secret in the river flowing between the two resorts — a fish-killing
The Death and Gloom at the Heart of Balochistan’s Coal Mines in Pakistan
May 24, 2018
“I fell into a frenzy when I was informed that my brother had been in a coal mine accident,” recalls Samiullah. “I called my cousin, who worked with him in the mine, and he confirmed the news.” Samiullah’s older brother
Thousands of Mines Dot the Landscape of Tintic District in Utah
May 21, 2018
If you drive just across the Utah County border into the Juab County town of Eureka, you’ll notice a large “T” on the mountain, rather than an “E” for Eureka as you might expect. The “T” is a remnant of
Space Mining Could Become a Real Thing and It Could Be Worth Trillions
May 17, 2018
The race to space traditionally has advanced with exploration and even tourism in mind, but space-mining is looking like an increasingly legitimate idea, opening the possibility of a new civilization — and profits — on another planet. • Minerals that
In the Coal Counties of Central Appalachia, Will Trump’s Promises Come True?
May 10, 2018
This story is part of a series on coal country by NPR’s Embedded podcast. On May 5, 2016, Donald Trump led a campaign rally in Charleston, W.Va. He put on a hard hat and pretended he was shoveling coal. The
