HEARING LOSS A MAJOR THREAT
Talk to a long time shooter and you will probably have to speak up, unless they already have hearing aids. Fifty years ago no shooter would go to the range with ear protection. That was only for wusses. Unfortunately, some in the mining industry think the same thing. While some mine workers insist that they don't need ear protection, the fact is that the noise levels at mining operations will damage your hearing during the long run.

AMERICA'S LARGEST SALT MINE PRODUCES A HOT PRODUCT
The Cargill Salt Mine on Avery Island touches you every day. From nutrients for livestock, to water conditioning, to Tabasco Sauce, Cargill salt mined in Louisiana is a key ingredient. The Cargill Salt Mine on Avery Island is the oldest salt mine in America and the first rock salt operation in North America. Avery Island is less an island and more of the top of a massive salt dome that extends 40,000 feet into the earth.

WHERE WOULD COAL BE WITHOUT SPACE PROGRAM?
January 2013 marked the 10th anniversary of the landing of the robotic Mars rover "Opportunity." And, while everyone focuses on the travels of the newest Mars rover "Curiosity," these earlier robots like "Opportunity" have had an important impact on underground coal mining, making it safer and more productive.

HOW ENVIRONMENTALISTS MAY TARGET YOUR RECLAMATION PROJECT
It used to be that the mark of a great reclamation program was to make the disturbed land better than you found it. Reclamation projects have remediated old mining pollution and others have increased populations of wildlife. That isn't the case today. Environmentalists are now opposing strategies to improve the environment.

COAL PREP DEPENDS ON TYPE OF CONTINUOUS MINER USED
While most of the non-mining public thinks of coal as large seams of homogenous "black stuff," the reality is quite different. Coal seams vary in height as mining progresses and may even be broken up with rock, clay, or any number of other non-coal products. A mine may run into fossilized tree stumps or "coal balls" of hard material that can damage equipment.

GEORGIA BARITE MINE PRODUCTS RANGE FROM THE EARTH TO COSMOS
When the Fermi Laboratories wanted to track the elusive neutrino, they went to a mine in Georgia for the critical ingredient. No, they didn't need high tech, sensitive equipment to detect these ghostly particles. They needed 1,200 tons of barite, a heavy mineral often used in drilling mud. The 1,200 tons was for a six-inch layer of barite, which is 60 percent heavier than a six-inch layer of common granite, on the roof of the detector building.

A MINE MANAGER'S GUIDE TO SAFETY EYEWARE
Eye protection has a long history, but not in the mining history. Soldiers were wearing eye protection back when Rome was a minor city on the Italian peninsula. It reached its zenith in the Middle Ages in the armored visor for knights. The sophisticated patterns of holes, slits and sloping armor not only protected eyes from swords, lances, and spears; they also diverted heavy blows to the face away from the skull.

CONTROLLING COAL DUST WITH FOG AND WATER SPRAYS
Every coal deposit has its own characteristics and one of them might be low water content. For those mines, the mining and processing of coal releases a lot of dust into the air. Not only is this dust an environmental problem, coal dust is extremely explosive and can ignite with the power of dynamite if a spark comes into contact with the airborne dust.

MULZER RELIES ON TRANSPORTATION TO EXPAND BUSINESS - The sales area for an aggregate operation is usually limited to an area that a truck can travel in a couple of hours.  Any further, and the cost of transporting the stone outweighs any benefits.  As a result, any quarrying company that wants to expand must own quarries over their whole territory.

DUST CONTROL ISSUES DIFFERENT IN EAST- In the world of American mining, “East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet,” is quite true, especially in environmental management.  While Western mines work in drought like conditions, extreme temperatures, and high altitudes, Eastern mines have water, moderate temperatures, and low altitudes.  The result is that issues like dust control and reclamation are seen in a different light

HIGH TECH HEAVY EQUIPMENT REQUIRES CLEAN MAINTENANCE ENVIRONMENT - Those multi million dollar pieces of heavy equipment with more computer power than a space shuttle require a different maintenance philosophy.  In fact, they require the same sort of maintenance facilities that modern spacecraft need – clean and dust free.

HEARING IS A FRAGILE SENSE THAT IS EASY TO LOSE - It’s a lot easier to lose your hearing than you think.  Just try mumbling a few words to a shooter, former factory worker, or a veteran who actually saw combat.  Nearly every one will have problems understanding what you said.

Crushing or Blasting-Which is Best? - Crushing is a critical part of nearly every mining operation.  It takes the material from whatever size it was when it left the mine and processes it to a size that allows any valuable minerals to be extracted. Consequently, the final efficiency rate of your mine depends to a great extent to the crushing process. However, there are several ways to crush rock or ore.  One is the traditional crusher.  The other is with explosives.

INTERNATIONAL DEMAND BOOSTING CONSOL ENERGY - Although coal mining companies face a hostile American government, foreign demand is keeping American coal companies busy.  In fact, idled mines are being brought back online to meet international demand. At the recent CONSOL annual meeting, Chairman and CEO J. Brett Harvey said a return in international demand for coal allowed Consol Energy to reopen its longwall mining operations at its Blacksville, W.Va., and Buchanan, Va.   

MINES ADDRESS BLACK LUNG DESPITE GOVERNMENT OBSTRUCTION - It appears that the Obama Administration is using the Black Lung issue and pseudo-scientific methods to carry on its war with the coal mining industry.  As a result, The Labor Department’s fiscal 2012 appropriations bill, approved by Congress, prevented the Mining Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) from moving forward with its proposed health rule on black lung disease until after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) completes an eight-month study and issues an “interim report” on the data collection, sampling and analytical data and methodologies underlying MSHA’s proposal.

EASTERN AGGREGATE COMPANIES FOCUS ON ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES - We frequently associate great reclamation projects with mines.  However, quarries and aggregate operations in the East are just as committed to environmental protection.  Here are some examples.  TARMAC SAVES WETLANDS.  No other company can say it is more closely associated with aggregate and road construction than Tarmac America.  After all, their name became synonymous with a hard road surface.

Alabama Coal Fuels Eastman’s Syngas Operation - Mention Alabama to someone and probably two of the last things they will associate with state will be high tech coal to syngas production and chemicals for film.  Yet, Alabama coal fuels a modern chemical plant in Tennessee that also produces many of the chemical feed stocks for manufacturing film and even synthetic fuel.

A Beginners Guide To Coal Preparation - Okay, the title, “A Beginners Guide to Coal Preparation,” is a bit misleading.  It’s sort of like saying, “A Beginners Guide to Painting the Mona Lisa in your Garage.”  There’s a lot more to it than that.  Coal Preparation in many ways is an art that balances the type of coal mined with the needs of the customer, the demands of government regulation, and even transportation issues. 

Reclaimed Ohio Coal Lands Put To Good Use - Unless you are retirement age, the chances are that you have never seen a chestnut tree.  That’s because the awe-inspiring chestnut nearly became extinct in the mid twentieth century thanks to a deadly fungus.  Fortunately, thanks to reclaimed coal mine land, we can once again see what was once one of the most common trees in the Eastern United States.

Heavy Metals A Threat In Coal Mines - Talk about coal mining and safety, and the subject usually drifts to methane, coal dust, cave-ins, and black lung.  However, there are many other threats, including heavy metal poisoning.

SUSHI – BROUGHT TO YOU BY WEST VIRGINIA’S COAL MINES
Sushi and West Virginia coal mining don’t seem to have much in common, but one of the hottest fish at sushi bars is Arctic Char, a fish that is reminiscent of both salmon and trout.  And, believe it or not, arctic char has been grown in West Virginia thanks to the coal mining industry.

IRON ORE PREP CRITICAL TO KEEPING MINNESOTA MINES OPEN
In an era when ore preparation is seen as a way to milk an extra percentage point in recovery rates, it’s easy to forget that ore preparation and new refining methods can mean the difference between keeping a mine open or closed.

WINTER SAFETY ISSUES FACE EASTERN COAL MINES
Since 1900, 250 mine explosions have occurred during the winter season, killing nearly 7,000 people and making it the most dangerous season for mining coal.  That’s why the Mining Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) instituted Winter Alert 2011 - "Knock Out the Risk, Check Your List." 

CONSOL ENERGY EVOLVES TO MEET NEW DEMANDS
All companies must evolve to survive, but what is now known as CONSOL Energy had to face a serious problem just as it started.  Consolidation Coal Company was formed in 1860 with the merger of several coal-mining firms in Western Maryland.