mining

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For These Kids, Toiling in Illegal Mines Is 'Only Option'

Lithium demand creates 'new frontier for mining' in Nigeria, with children doing much of the work

(Newser) - Dressed in a faded pink dress, 6-year-old Juliet Samaniya squats under scorching skies to chip at a jagged white rock with a stone tool. Dust coats her tiny hands and her hair as she works hour after hour, for less than a dollar a day in Nasarawa, Nigeria. The landscape...

Discovery of 'Dream' Amount of Helium Caused 'a Lot of Screaming'
In Minnesota,
a 'Dream' Helium
Discovery
in case you missed it
Mar 10, 2024 7:50 AM CDT

In Minnesota, a 'Dream' Helium Discovery

Babbitt, Minnesota, could be home to highest concentration of the gas in North America

(Newser) - A reservoir of lucrative helium, potentially boasting the highest concentration of the gas in North America, has been confirmed in Minnesota. "There was a lot of screaming, a lot of hugging and high-fives," Pulsar Helium CEO Thomas Abraham-James tells CBS News . Helium was first discovered by accident in...

Gold Mine Collapse Kills at Least 14

There are fears the death toll could rise in Venezuela tragedy

(Newser) - The collapse of an illegally operated open-pit gold mine in central Venezuela killed at least 14 people and injured several more, state authorities said Wednesday, as some other officials reported an undetermined number of people could be trapped, the AP reports. Bolivar state Gov. Angel Marcano told local reporters that...

Jellyfish Suggest Deep-Sea Mining Could Be a Problem
Is Jellyfish Mucus a
Warning Sign of Sorts?
discoveries
Nov 22, 2023 11:23 AM CST

Is Jellyfish Mucus a Warning Sign of Sorts?

Experiment suggests deep-sea mining could potentially hurt the creatures

(Newser) - The rush to find the minerals needed to power our batteries and other electronics has mining companies looking to the seafloor—but at what potential cost to the marine life that lives above it? A study published Tuesday in Nature Communications aimed to answer that question using jellyfish, and as...

He Paid $2M for a Coal Mine. It Could Be Worth $37B
Old Coal Mine in Wyoming
Could Be Worth $37B
in case you missed it
Nov 12, 2023 4:00 PM CST

Old Coal Mine in Wyoming Could Be Worth $37B

Site that cost $2M could be America's first new rare-earth mine since 1952

(Newser) - Randall Atkins says he "didn't know the difference between rare earths and rare coins" when he paid $2 million for an old coal mine in northern Wyoming. But the Ramaco Resources founder and CEO has learned a lot since then: The Wall Street Journal reports that he was...

Mining Company Appeals to Patriotism in Nebraska Village
A Vital Mineral Deposit
Could Bring Big Change
to Nebraska Village
in case you missed it
Feb 5, 2023 7:55 AM CST

A Vital Mineral Deposit Could Bring Big Change to Nebraska Village

Elk Creek residents know a lot about niobium

(Newser) - Niobium may not be a familiar word to many Americans, but most people in the southeast Nebraska village of Elk Creek can speak fluently about the strategic metal, which has applications including strengthening steel, the New York Times reports. The area is the proposed site of a mine for niobium...

Rio Tinto: Sorry We Lost That Radioactive Capsule

Mining giant says hunt is still on in Western Australia for tiny container with cesium 137

(Newser) - One of the largest mining companies in the world is now apologizing for losing a teensy capsule filled with a whole lot of danger. "We recognize this is clearly very concerning and are sorry for the alarm it has caused in the Western Australian community," Simon Trott, CEO...

Lula Airlifts Starving Tribespeople, Points Finger at Bolsonaro

Hundreds of Yanomami children have reportedly died as a result of illegal mining

(Newser) - Brazil's president has accused his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro of committing genocide against the remote Amazon tribe of Yanomami, whose territory has been infiltrated by illegal miners . President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who said he was "shocked" while visiting tribespeople in Brazil's northern state of Roraima...

Coal Mine Blast Kills 41, Union Calls It a 'Massacre'

'A frightful scene' in Amasra, Turkey, after Friday explosion

(Newser) - Funerals for miners killed in a coal mine explosion in northern Turkey began Saturday as officials raised the death toll to at least 41 people. Desperate relatives had waited all night in the cold outside the state-owned Turkish Hard Coal Enterprise's (TTK) mine in the town of Amasra, in...

Do We Have a 'Moral Obligation' to Mine for Cobalt in Idaho?

One of the country's largest stores of cobalt is there

(Newser) - As the planet's need for lithium—or, more specifically, lithium-ion batteries—continues to swell, so too does the need for metals needed to make those batteries. Cobalt is one of them. As Michael Holtz explains in a lengthy piece for the Atlantic , a White House report issued in June...

They Found 5 Bodies Wrapped in Plastic, Then 15 More

South African discovery linked to illegal mining mishap

(Newser) - Police have uncovered the burned bodies of 20 men "wrapped in white plastic bags" in a gold mining town in South Africa. Five bodies were discovered Monday near a disused mine shaft in Orkney, North West province, about 100 miles southwest of Johannesburg, per the Sunday Times . Another body...

World's Largest Jeweler Makes Huge Pivot on Diamonds

Pandora will sell lab-made diamonds only from now on in the name of sustainability, affordability

(Newser) - "Laboratory-made diamonds are a girl's best friend" may not have the same ring to it, but the world's largest jeweler is now banking on a shift in that direction and hoping it will be a lucrative one. The BBC reports that Pandora will cease to sell mined...

Why the World's Eyes Were Focused on Greenland's Vote

It 'could have major consequences for international interests in the Arctic'

(Newser) - "A row over rare-earth deposits could bring down Greenland's government," read an NPR headline on Tuesday. On Wednesday, "could" shifted to "did." The AP reports the country's main opposition party managed to get the most votes in a parliamentary election, ending the decades-long...

'There's Gold Up There'; a Death Valley Controversy

Environmentalist, tribes vow to fight plans for open-pit mine near national park

(Newser) - "There’s gold up there and the world needs gold," Stephen Swatton, president of international mining company K2 Gold, says of an area of desert terrain next to California's Death Valley National Park. But opponents including the Sierra Club and native tribes say the plan to mine...

Trapped Miner Knocked 5 Times. He Heard 20 Knocks Back

Workers at mine in Shandong, China, describe ordeal after explosion trapped them for 2 weeks

(Newser) - The explosion happened in an instant. Wang Kang, one of 22 workers trapped some 2,000 feet underground as debris filled the shaft at the under-construction gold mine in China's Shandong province, was sent flying. "It blasted us really far away, and our safety helmets cracked," the...

Australia to Mining Firm: Rebuild Those Ancient Caves

Rio Tinto detonated explosives to access iron ore

(Newser) - Calling the destruction of 46,000-year-old Aboriginal caves "inexcusable," lawmakers in Western Australia have ordered a mining firm to rebuild caves that are among the country's most significant archaeological sites, the BBC reports. The company, Rio Tinto, detonated explosives in May to access $96 million in iron...

To Get to $7B in Gold, They Have to Wrangle Rare Rodents

Ed Stoddard at Undark describes the conservation project around Chilean mine

(Newser) - An effort to pull 3.5 million ounces of gold from a site high in the mountains of northern Chile is expected to cost $860 million—$400,000 of which has already been spent on rodents. A colony of 25 endangered short-haired chinchillas has made a home at the site...

Tanzanian Miner Again Hits Paydirt, Sells $2M Gem
Miner Cashes In Again
Aug 3, 2020 5:15 PM CDT

Miner Cashes In Again

New find brings $2M, after a $3.4M haul in June

(Newser) - The small-scale miner in Tanzania who sold two of his finds for $3.4 million in June has made another big sale. Saniniu Laizer collected $2 million for a 14-pound Tanzanite stone, the BBC reports. The rare gemstones—which a geologist said could be gone in 20 years—are found...

This Small-Scale Miner Just Became a Millionaire
With 2 Rocks, Small-Scale
Miner Strikes It Rich
in case you missed it
Jun 28, 2020 10:09 AM CDT

With 2 Rocks, Small-Scale Miner Strikes It Rich

Saniniu Laizer earns $3.4M from sale of 2 largest known tanzanite gems

(Newser) - A miner in Tanzania has become an overnight millionaire with the discovery and sale of the two largest known tanzanite gemstones ever found. Until last week, the largest known chunk of tanzanite—one of the world's rarest gemstones, believed to be found only in a small northern region of...

Mining Giant: Sorry We Blew Up 46K-Year-Old Site

Rio Tinto blew up ancient Aboriginal rock shelters in Australia

(Newser) - Rio Tinto has apologized to the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people after setting off explosives last week that destroyed two ancient rock shelters in Western Australia. The sacred Aboriginal site, in the Juukan Gorge in the north of the territory, dates back 46,000 years, SBS News reports. "...

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