Strawn-Wagner Diamond

The Strawn-Wagner Diamond is one of a relatively few colorless, internally flawless diamonds found so far in the world, weighing 3.09 carat (620 mg). It was found in 1990 by Shirley Strawn of Murfreesboro, Arkansas, in the Crater of Diamonds State Park public search field. It was cut to 1.09 carats (220 mg) in 1997, and graded a "perfect" 0/0/0 by the American Gem Society (AGS) in 1998 and graded perfect by the Gemological Institute of America, making it the first diamond from Arkansas to receive such an AGS grading. The diamond is considered one-in-a-billion, according to Peter Yantzer, the AGS Laboratory Director.
The diamond is currently on exhibit at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas, after the park purchased it for $34,700.


Piavitsa mine

The Piavitsa mine is a mine located in the north of Greece in Central Macedonia. Piavitsa represents one of the largest manganese reserve in Greece having estimated reserves of 10.5 million tonnes of manganese ore grading 34% manganese metal.


List of gold mines in Georgia

This is a list of gold mines in the U.S. state of Georgia, the vast majority of which are inactive.
Gold mines by Georgia's County are listed in "Geology of the Greater Atlanta Region," Bulletin 96, Georgia Geological Survey, Atlanta, 1984, Keith I. McConnell and Charlotte E. Abrams. Approximately 135 mines are listed.
Gold mines by Georgia's County are also listed in "A Preliminary Report on a Part of the Gold Deposits of Georgia,"1896


Gold Rush (TV series)

Gold Rush (titled Gold Rush: Alaska for the first season) is a reality television series that airs on Discovery and its affiliates worldwide. The series follows the placer gold mining efforts of various family-run mining companies, mostly in the Klondike region of Dawson City, Yukon, Canada. In its 11th season as of early 2020, prior seasons also included mining efforts in South America and western North America.
Overview.
Season 1.
The show was named Gold Rush: Alaska in its first season, and featured six men from Sandy, Oregon, a small town southeast of Portland, who, due to the economic downturn, have lost their jobs. They decided on an all-stakes gamble—travel to Porcupine Creek, Alaska, and prospect for gold. Most of the people on the show have little or no previous placer gold mining experience and must learn on the job. By the end of the season, the Hoffman crew had recovered 14.64 ounces.
Season 2.
In season 2, with the show renamed to Gold Rush, Todd misses a lease payment on Porcupine Creek and "Dakota" Fred Hurt buys the claim from owner Earl Foster, not needing to honor the lease due to the missed payment. The season explores the Hoffman crew's new mine at Quartz Creek, in the Klondike region of Dawson City, Yukon, Canada, as well as "Dakota" Fred's operation at the site of the original Hoffman mine, Porcupine Creek, and Parker Schnabel's attempts to mine his grandfather's property at Big Nugget Mine. The gold recovered by each team for the season was:
Season 3.
The third season began in October 2012. The Hoffman crew returned to the Klondike to once again mine the Quartz Creek site but also brought on additional crewmen to simultaneously work another site in the area. But, with Hoffman having delays and equipment trouble at his site, they decided to merge with Dave Turin's team at Indian River. Parker Schnabel returned to the Big Nugget Mine site with larger and more efficient equipment, while "Dakota" Fred Hurt and his crew returned to the Porcupine Creek site.
The Turin crew mined 803 ounces of gold, earning them over $1.28 million. Parker and Dakota Fred mined 191 ounces and 163 ounces, respectively, worth over a quarter-million dollars each. This was a large success in comparison to the first season, where no team recovered more than 50 ounces of gold.
Season 4.
The fourth season began airing in August 2013 and started with a pre-season episode called "The Dirt" featuring interviews with all of the teams featured in season three. "Gold Rush: Guyana South America" features the Hoffman crew in South America, Parker Schnabel guest-mining on new land with mentor Tony Beets in Dawson City, and "Dakota" Fred Hurt and his son Dustin mining at Cahoon Creek, a hard-to-reach, post-glacial area mined only with pickaxes in the late 1800s. The actual Season 4 premiere was October 25, 2013.
The Hoffman crew mined barely two ounces of gold and were forced to pack up and leave their Guyana mining operation; the Dakota boys mined 280 ounces, and Parker and his crew mined 836 ounces by the end of the season. Parker then stayed and continued mining with Rick and picked up an additional 193 ounces, bringing his season total to 1,029 ounces. Parker's $1.4 million haul not only broke Todd Hoffman's single-season record of 803 ounces, but also eclipsed Hoffman's entire four-season total.
Season 5.
The two-hour Gold Rush Season 5 premiere kicked off Friday, October 17, 2014, at 9 PM ET/PT with "The Dirt" airing beforehand at 8 PM ET/PT on the Discovery Channel.
By season's end, Parker mined 2,538 ounces totaling just under $3 million and the Hoffmans mined 1,349 ounces totaling just over $1.6 million.
Season 6.
The two-hour Gold Rush season 6 premiere started in the United States on October 16, 2015, with "The Dirt" airing beforehand on the Discovery Channel, while the UK premiere was on October 20, 2015. By the season's end, Tony's dredge pulls out 737 ounces, Parker managed to mine 3,372 ounces worth almost $3.5 million, while the Hoffmans mined 3,032 ounces worth just over $3 million.
Season 7.
Season 7 premiered on October 14, 2016.
By the end of season 7, Todd's mining effort in Oregon had failed, although he finished the summer at a Fairplay, Colorado, mine with a break-even total just over 1100 ounces. Tony Beets and family finished with just over 2100 ounces using a refurbished gold mining dredge. Parker Schnabel and his crew finished with just over 4300 ounces, worth just over $5 million.
Season 8.
Season 8 premiered on October 13, 2017. The season finds the Hoffman and Schnabel crews wagering 100 ounces of gold to the company that mines the most gold, with both vying for a 5,000 ounce season goal. Meanwhile, Tony Beets is disassembling, transporting, and reassembling another vintage dredge, resurrecting a method of placer mining that has not been in common use in Dawson City for half a century. It was announced on Gold Rush Live that Season 8 would be the last season on the show for the Hoffman family.
By season's end, the Hoffmans mined 1,644 ounces in Colorado, worth just under $2 million. Schnabel's crew finished with 6,280 ounces mining in the Yukon, worth $7.5 million. Tony Beets finished with 3,659 ounces at Eureka Creek, worth $4.39 million.
Season 9.
Season 9 debuted on October 11, 2018, with an Episode 0 entitled "The Story So Far". Episodes during this season focused on the mining efforts of Rick Ness in his first season operating independently, Parker Schnabel and his crew, and Tony Beets and his family. The season was slated to have 20 episodes, with the final one airing in March 2019.
Parker's crew exceeded his 7,000 goal at Scribner Creek, mining 7,427.25 ounces (worth nearly $9 million). Rick Ness mined 1,105 ounces, worth $1.3 million, and beat his 1,000 ounce season goal. Tony Beets fell short of his 6,000 ounce goal, mining just under 4,400 ounces.
Season 10.
Season 10 premiered on October 11, 2019. It focused on the mining crews of Parker Schnabel, Tony Beets, and Rick Ness in the Klondike. The 21st and final episode of the season aired on March 6, 2020. Parker Schnabel mined 7223 ounces, worth $10.8 million.
Season 11.
Filming of Season 11, and mining for the 2020 mining season was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Though miners were considered essential workers by the Yukon government, the film crews themselves are not part of that determination. Canada having been on travel lockdown at the start of the filming season meant that the production crews from RAW TV production company were still stuck in Britain. At the start of mining, only one filming crewmember was onsite with the Beets, and Monica Beets had added on filming duties. Neither the Schnabel nor Ness mining crews were onsite at the start of the mining season, they've been at home in quarantine, mostly in the U.S. For the new mining season; Parker Schnabel successfully crosses the border from Alaska and quarantines for two weeks in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. The Beets quarantine for 2 weeks at their mine site, and plan to have it locked down for the season. After a 2-week quarantine, a local film crew of 4 comes to film the Beets. Rick Ness quarantines while on the road from Wisconsin to the Yukon, with an extended fuel tank for his pickup, by limiting any contact while roadtripping. On October 2, 2020, it was announced that the eleventh season will premiere on October 23, 2020.
Other programming.
Aftershows and specials.
Numerous "aftershows" and specials (several named "The Dirt", some called "The Aftershow") have been produced that document behind-the-scenes action featuring additional footage, as well as studio interviews with miners and crew. Several extended versions of episodes (usually named "Pay Dirt") have information bubbles and more mining coverage. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck the TV season, the interview shows were affected, these episodes were called "The Dirt: Home Edition".
"Gold Rush: The Jungle".
Between the second and third seasons, Todd Hoffman and several crew members traveled to a remote site in Guyana in South America to determine the feasibility of opening up an operation there during the Klondike offseasons. The trip was covered in a single one-hour episode. Although they did discover gold on the claim site, it was not of a sufficient quantity to cover the high expenses of mining the remote site which was accessible only by hiking through a trackless jungle after a harrowing river passage. While the Hoffman crew does go to Guyana for season 4 a year later, given the low probability of profitability, Hoffman chose not to pursue the venture for season 3. The episode ended with doubt about whether they would return.
"Gold Rush: South America".
Between the third and the fourth seasons, Todd Hoffman and , several crew members traveled to South America to prospect for gold in Peru, Chile, and Guyana. This was covered in several episodes, in a summer season for "Gold Rush".
"Gold Rush: Parker's Trail".
Starting in 2017, a series of episodes branded as "Parker's Trail" have followed Parker Schnabel on trips to other areas. In 2017, a five-part series featured Schnabel and his crew attempting to follow the Klondike Trail. In 2018, a seven-episode series followed Schnabel and his crew flying, hiking and boating through and attempting to mine at stops in Guyana. In 2019, a ten-episode series followed Schnabel and his crew sailing, flying, hiking and driving through Papua New Guinea in northern Oceania, while attempting to mine at stops along the way. In 2020, in a series that debuted on March 13, Schnabel drives through and stops to mine in Australia's Victoria, Queensland, and Western Australia states. For the 2020 Australia season, Parker is joined by Australian female gold miner Tyler Mahoney, who previously appeared in "Aussie Gold Hunters", a show similar to "Gold Rush".
"Gold Rush: White Water".
This spin-off series follows the "Dakota Boys"—Dustin and his father, "Dakota" Fred—as they mine McKinley and Cahoon Creeks in Haines Borough, Alaska, using an unconventional dredging method: diving into whitewater collection pools at the base of high country waterfalls. The series debuted in January 2018.
"Gold Rush: Dave Turin's Lost Mine".
This spin-off series follows Dave Turin, formerly of the Hoffman crew, as he looks to start new mining operations at disused gold mines in the Western United States. The series debuted in March 2019, centering on a placer mine along Lynx Creek near Prescott Valley, Arizona. In 2020, the show's second season ran from February to April, with eight episodes centering on a placer mine in Birdseye, near Marysville, Montana. In 2021, the show's third season started in March, centering on a placer mine along Box Creek in Lake County, Colorado.
"Gold Rush: Freddy Dodge's Mine Rescue".
On December 3, 2020, it was announced that a spin-off titled "Gold Rush: Freddy Dodge's Mine Rescue" would premiere on January 4, 2021 on the Discovery+ video streaming service.
Cast.
Current Cast:
Former Cast:
Reception.
As of its first-season finale, "Gold Rush: Alaska" was the most-watched Friday night program in all of US television among males aged 18 to 49 and women aged 25 to 54. For 13 consecutive weeks in its second season, "Gold Rush" continued to hold Friday's top rating in the demographic of men aged 18 to 49. With "Gold Rush" leading the way, Discovery wrapped a dominant first quarter in key male demographics, including a stranglehold among the rankings for top unscripted cable programs.
For the December 28, 2015, to March 27, 2016, ratings period, Discovery stood number one among non-sports cable networks in its target demographic of men aged 25 to 54. It claimed eight of the top ten reality shows in this group, including the top three — "Gold Rush" (1.89 million), "Fast N' Loud" (1.20 million) and "Alaskan Bush People" (1.18 million). Discovery also dominated the cable unscripted rankers in other male categories. It claimed seven of the top ten in men aged 18 to 49 and five of the top ten in the younger men aged 18 to 34 demographic, with "Gold Rush" on top in both.


John Treadwell (miner)

John Treadwell (1842–1927) was a Canadian gold miner. He was born in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada. He owned and operated the Treadwell gold mine through the Treadwell Mining Company. He was responsible for initiating low-grade gold mining in Alaska adopting most advanced operations on a big scale, which boosted the economy of the wilderness areas. His four mines formed the largest complex in the world at that time. Treadwell's mine complex "put Juneau on the map".
Personal life.
Treadwell was born in St. Andrews. He had a brother, James. He married Frederika Josephine Graner in 1889.
Career.
Treadwell worked as a miner in California and Nevada. In 1881, he worked as a carpenter on a house in California for John Fry, a well known banker. When Fry heard about the rich gold exploring possibility around the Gastineau Channel on Douglas Island, near Alaska's current capital of Juneau, he proposed Treadwell to inspect the area and find out the scope of prospecting there as Treadwell had a mining background. Initially, Treadwell met a French miner, Pierre Joseph Erussard, who gave very encouraging reports of the gold deposits in his claim. As Erussard was short of funds to carry out further work, he decided to return to his country, and Treadwell gave Erussard $400 for the Paris lode claim. On Treadwell's return to California, he, Fry, and another friend established a mining company to work on Alaskan mine claims. The Alaska Mill and Mining Company was established in May 1882. Explorations on an experimental basis included a five-stamp mill. The results proved profitable and the company expanded with a bigger sized 120-stamp mill in 1883 and another in 1887. In the initial years, the Treadwell Complex had four mines (Treadwell, Ready Bullion, the Mexican and the Seven-Hundred-Foot) and five mills. The gold yield was worth about US$70 million.
In 1889, Treadwell sold his mining operations to the Alaska Gold Mining Company for a reported $1.5 million. By 1914, Treadwell Complex mining operations attained a world record with 960 stamps crushing 5,000 tons of rock per day. Treadwell ventured into coal mining which turned out be a failure; he owned and operated the Tesla Coal Mine, now situated in the Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area. Consequently, he was associated with banking in New York with his brother James, which resulted in a bankruptcy claim of US$3 million without any supporting collateral. He died in New York on December 6, 1927, and was buried there.


Mambare River

Mambare River is a river in Oro Province, Papua New Guinea, located at .
History.
Alluvial gold was discovered in the river at the end of the 19th century. By 1898 there were 150 miners working on the Mambare and Girua Rivers.
The Imperial Japanese had a supply dump located at the mouth of the Mambare River during World War II.


Jaduguda uranium mine

The Jaduguda Mine (also spelt as Jadugoda or Jadugora) is a uranium mine in Jaduguda village in the Purbi Singhbhum district of the Indian state of Jharkhand. It commenced operation in 1967 and was the first uranium mine in India. The deposits at this mine were discovered in 1951. As of March 2012, India only possesses two functional uranium mines, including this Jaduguda Mine. A new mine, Tummalapalle uranium mine is discovered and mining is going to start from it.
Mining activities were suspended in 2014 following an inquiry into the lease renewal of the mine. Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) expects mining activity to resume at Jaduguda in 2017. The Jaduguda mine produces up to 25% of the raw materials needed to fuel India's nuclear reactors.
Geography.
The Jaduguda uranium mine is an underground mining mine located in the Purbi Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. The mine is located at least 640 meters below the earth's surface and is accessible by a 5-meter diameter vertical shaft.
Uranium purification plant.
A uranium purification plant is usually located closely to the mine as uranium ore is converted here to yellow cake. According to Department of Atomic Energy, the ore extracted from this mine is of 0,065 grade, which means that the plant needs to process 1000 kg of ore to extract 65 grams of usable uranium. The plant processes 2,190 tonnes uranium ore per day.
After purification of the ore, yellow cake is shipped by heavy-duty vehicles to the Nuclear Fuel Complex in Hyderabad, Telangana, which is over away from plant.
Smuggling of uranium.
On February 18, 2008 police of Supaul district in the eastern Indian state of Bihar seized 4 kg of low-quality uranium and arrested one Indian and five Nepali smugglers. According to media reports the uranium was smuggled out of the Jaduguda mines and the smugglers were trying to sell it to Nepal. The market value of the seized uranium was estimated at Rs. 5 crore on the international market.
Pollution.
When uranium ore is extracted from the ground, 99.28% of the mined ore is treated as waste as the uranium isotopes used in nuclear power plants mainly is uranium-235 leaving behind the major portion of the ore which consists of uranium-236 and uranium-238 as well as some other components. This waste (also referred to as tailings) is then neutralised with lime and carried through pipelines to a tailing pond. This transport is made possible through the provision of clean water (in the pipelines) out of decantation wells which is then taken through a closed channel to an effluent treatment plant for the removal of radium and manganese. The solid tailings are then retained in the ponds (tailing ponds).
There were reports coming from the locals around the tailing ponds:.
In a report in CSE-Down to Earth Feature Service, entitled "A deformed existence" and dated 4 June 1999, Manish Tiwari quoted Biruli as saying, "Many women in the area complain of disrupted menstrual cycles. This area also has a high rate of either miscarriages or still-born babies. Biruli claims that nearly 30,000 people living in 15 villages in the five-km radius of the tailings ponds are exposed to radiation. 'Earlier, children were still-born. Now, they die within few days of their birth,' he says. He also claims that nearly one-third of the women living in these areas are suffering from loss of fertility. Even animals such as cows and buffaloes are suffering from rare diseases.
BARC committee came to Jaduguda in November 1998 at the request of the State Government, due to these reports..
The committee concluded: "The consensus of all the doctors was that the cases examined had congenital anomalies, diseases due to genetic abnormalities like thalassaemia major and retinitis pigmentosa, moderate to gross splenomegaly due to chronic malaria l infection (as this is hyperendemic area), malnutrition, post encephalitis, post head injury sequelae and certain habits (alcohol) and have no relation to radiation." Its report adds: "The team was convinced and unanimously agreed that the diseases' pattern cannot be ascribed to radiation exposure in any of these cases."
Controversies.
The mine itself is still prone to some controversies as the introduction of the mine resulted in the loss of land for many villagers surrounding its location, as well as some issues regarding protective gear :
"A population of around 35,000 people living within a 5-kilometer radius of the mines are adversely affected by radiation from the tailing ponds. Many villagers lost land and jobs when they were displaced by the mining operations, and many now work in the uranium mines as daily wage labourers. They often do not get proper protective gear to handle radioactive materials and work with bare hands, exposing themselves to heavy doses of radiation. UCIL, the company responsible for the health of its workers, on the other hand, always refutes any allegations of violations of labour laws and human rights. The company is outright defensive about its protective measures and refuses to acknowledge the problems faced by the labourers."
An exposé of India’s nuclear program, Tailing Pond, produced and directed by debutant Saurav Vishnu, investigates the horrifying effects of uranium extraction on the health of the indigenous population of Jadugoda, in eastern India. These are particularly severe for young children, many of whom are falling ill and dying due to radioactive waste pollution. Tailing Pond, is narrated by Cynthia Nixon, who is back in the news of late because of the “Sex and the City” revival “And Just Like That.”


Eagle Butte Mine

The Eagle Butte mine is a coal mine located north of Gillette, Wyoming in the United States in the coal-rich Powder River Basin. The mine is an open pit, "truck and shovel", mine producing a low-sulfur, sub-bituminous coal from the Roland and Smith seams that is used for domestic energy generation. Coal produced by the mine is shipped to its customers via railroad. The mine is currently owned and operated by Blackjewel LLC after being acquired from Contura energy in 2017.
As of 2009, Eagle Butte had reserves of of sub-bituminous coal and a maximum permitted production capacity of per year. Typical annual production has been in 20-25 million ton range for the last several years though. The average quality of the coal shipped from Eagle Butte is 8,400 BTU/lb, 0.34% Sulfur, 4.50% Ash, and 1.90% Sodium (of the ash). Train loading operations at the mine are done with a batch weigh bin system that is coupled to a "weigh-in-motion" track scale system. Silo capacity at the mine's rail loop, which can accommodate up to 5 unit trains, is 48,000 tons. In 2008, the mine produced just over of coal, making it the 9th-largest producer of coal in the United States.
History.
The Eagle Butte Mine shipped its first train of coal in 1978 after beginning pre-production work in 1976. Since mining operations began, the mine has shipped over of coal to its customers. Eagle Butte mine has changed hands many times through mergers and sales. Previous owners include AMAX, Cyprus AMAX, RAG and Foundation Coal.
In 2005, the Eagle Butte mine was awarded two awards from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality for Excellence in Surface Mining Reclamation and Innovation. Eagle Butte was selected to receive these awards because of the superior quality of shrub patches that the mine had established on its reclamation.
On July 1, 2019 CEO Jeffery Hoop announced that Blackjewel LLC, the operator of Eagle Butte had filed for bankruptcy and closed the mine. According to the Casper Star-Tribune, court documents show that Blackjewel owes $500 million in liabilities, including $6 million to employees. This was after Blackjewel was denied $20 million in financing by the United Bank of West Virginia.


Basset Mines

Basset Mines was a mining company formed in Cornwall, England, by the amalgamation of six copper and tin mining setts.
It operated from 1896 until 1918, when it was closed due to a fall in the price of tin.
Background.
The Basset mines were to the south of Camborne in the parish of Illogan, on the southeast side of Carn Brea.
The company was formed in 1896 when six different mining setts that had been operated from the 1830s were amalgamated.
The South Wheal Frances, West Wheal Basset and Wheal Basset Mines were all worked for copper in the 18th and 19th centuries. South Wheal Frances adjoins the West Wheal Basset to the north, Wheal Basset to the east and Grenville United to the southwest. South Wheal Frances was named for Frances Basset the only child of Francis Basset (1757–1835), first Lord de Dunstanville and Basset.
West Wheal Basset was started as a copper mine in 1835.
Sixty years later, as part of Basset Mines, it employed 300 men, 90 women and 30 boys.
Wheal Basset is another of the mines that have "Basset" in their name, after the Basset family of Tehidy.
Between 1815 and 1900 it produced 94,200 tons of 2.5% copper ore and 13,178 tons of black tin.
Most of the shallow workings were exhausted in the 1820s and 1830s.
Steam-powered pumps were used to keep the mines dry as the shafts were sunk deeper.
By the 1850s the mines employed several thousand men, women and children.
The setts that became the Basset Mines were most profitable in the 1850s and 1860s, extracting copper.
Production was cut back in the late 1860s when the price of copper declined, and some mines went below the copper lodes for tin.
The tin deposits were deeper and the ores harder to dress than copper, and profits were lower.
The Great Flat Lode was reached around 1872–74.
This is a large tin deposit to the south of Carn Brea that is tilted at an average angle of about 32 degrees.
Most lodes tilt at 60 degrees or more so the lode is relatively flat, hence the name.
The Wheal Basset stamps engine house was built in 1868, with an unusual configuration of two separate beam engines.
The new stamps at the West Basset Mine were made by the Tuckingmill Foundry.
The settling and buddling floor was opened in 1875. An additional buddle floor opened in 1892.
Production of tin steadily grew in the second half of the 19th century, and by the 1880s had overtaken copper.
When the old part of the Wheal Basset sett was stopped, flooding from the mine affected West Basset and West Wheal Frances and old Wheal Basset pumping engine was kept working.
A massive pumping engine house was built at Pascoe's Shaft at South Wheal Frances. It held an engine, the largest that the St Austell Foundry ever built, that was started in 1888.
The South Wheal Frances company reorganised as South Frances United Mines in 1892.
South Frances United included South Wheal Frances and West Wheal Basset, which had been running at a loss for several years.
Additional buddles and Cornish frames were erected at West Basset in 1892.
Combined operation.
Basset Mines Ltd. was formed in 1896 as a union of South Frances United, Wheal Basset (and North Wheal Basset) and West Wheal Frances Mines.
Boundary disputes caused by miners accidentally crossing into the sett of a neighbouring mine were resolved by the merger.
After the merger the ore was hoisted at South Wheal Frances and crushed and dressed at West Basset stamps about away.
The boiler house had a row of six Lancashire boilers and provided steam for the whole operation.
A Brunton calciner was installed at Wheal Basset stamps in 1897.
Between 1896 and 1899 a major refurbishment of the South Wheal Frances shaft was undertaken, enabling mining down to .
By 1900 the Basset Mines manager was no longer able to get the skilled labour need to work the buddles and proposed using vanners in their place.
They were installed in a building erected over six of the 1892 buddles just below the stamps.
Frue Vanners were installed at the West Basset stamps in 1906.
A Frue vanner house was installed below the Wheal Basset stamps in 1908.
The "Miner Dry" at Wheal Francis, a building where miners changed from their working clothes after a shift and hung the clothes to dry on large steam pipes, was completed in 1908.
At the time of his death in September 1918 Francis Oats (1848–1918) was chairman of Basset Mines.
Basset Mines shut down in December 1918 due to a slump in the price of tin after the end of World War I (1914–18).
The company failed in 1919.
Total output from the mines before and after the merger was 290,118 tons of copper and 43,134 tons of tin.
Recent years.
The area was granted World Heritage status on 14 July 2006.
The Great Flat Lode Trail leads around all the major mines in the Camborne-Redruth area, making a circuit of the Carn Brea granite hill, with many information boards explaining the sites.
Most of the shafts were plugged by the Kerrier District Council in the 1990s.
Many ruined buildings are still accessible to the public.
Surviving buildings include the Marriott's Shaft complex of South Wheal Frances, West Basset Stamps and Wheal Basset Stamps.
The West Basset Stamps, which had a secondary beam engine to pump water for dressing, stands over an unusually fine example of a 19th-century tin dressing floor.
The Marriott's Shaft complex includes the pumping engine house, which held the only inverted beam engine in Cornwall, the houses for the winding, compressor and crusher engines, and the miners' dry.


Tanganyika Concessions Limited

Tanganyika Concessions Limited (TCL or Tanks) was a British mining and railway company founded by the Scottish engineer and entrepreneur Robert Williams in 1899.
The purpose was to exploit minerals in Northern Rhodesia and in the Congo Free State.
Partly-owned subsidiaries included the "Union Minière du Haut-Katanga" (UMHC), which undertook mining in the Katanga portion of the copperbelt, and the Benguela railway, which provided a rail link across Angola to the Atlantic Ocean.
Belgian banks eventually took over control of the company.
The Angolan railway concession was returned to the state of Angola in 2001.
Foundation and concessions.
Tanganyika Concessions Ltd. was created on 20 January 1899 by Robert Williams, an associate of Cecil Rhodes.
Originally all the shareholders were British.
Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick, was one of the shareholders.
The purpose was to exploit minerals in Northern Rhodesia and in the Congo Free State.
Williams intended to secure a mining concession that the British South Africa Company had granted on 26 May 1898.
It covered more than north of the Zambezi river with exclusive rights for prospecting and locating 1,000 claims.
The Zambesia Exploring Company Limited (ZE) acquired the majority of the shares, and ZE and TCL were run as one company.
Tanganyika Concessions share prices were very unstable in the early years.
During one period of a few days the price went from 2 to 13 pounds per share and then crashed.
In 1900 the "Compagnie du Katanga" and the Congo Free State created the "Comité Spécial du Katanga" (CSK) to manage all the territory in Katanga, with profits shared between the "Compagnie du Katanga" (1/3) and the Free State (2/3).
On 8 December 1900 the Comité Spécial du Katanga granted TCL exclusive prospecting rights for five years in an area of of Katanga adjoining Rhodesia, and an annual subsidy of £10,000.
TCL was authorized to exploit the mines that were found with CSK for 30 years.
The term was eventually extended to 89 years.
The CSK reserved the rights to 60% of the profits from any mines that might be opened.
Early explorations.
Williams sent an exploratory team which set out for the Congo-Zambesi watershed on 5 April 1899.
There were five Europeans and 35 Africans led by the geologist George Grey (1868–1911), younger brother of Sir Edward Grey.
About´ south of the border they found the workings of the ancient Kansanshi copper mine, and on 6 September 1899 staked claims there for TCL.
Grey returned to Bulawayo to cable his findings to Williams on 24 November 1899, and indicated that the bulk of the ore seemed to be in Katanga.
He described the copper deposits as "scandalously rich".
Williams tried unsuccessfully to interest King Leopold II of Belgium in full-scale exploitation of the copper belt.
Leopold was starting to earn high returns from rubber and ivory exports, and resented British criticism of his brutal treatment of the local people, so held back.
After TCL had gained the CSK concession, on 15 April 1901 a larger second expedition set out to Kansanshi.
Another expedition left for Katanga via Abercorn (Mbala), and set up camp at the Kambove mine.
Between June and October 1902 prospectors staked 50 claims in Katanga.
There were many ancient copper workings, which were located by the simple method of asking local people where they could find copper.
Later history.
The CSK created the "Compagnie de Chemin de fer du Katanga" (CFK) in 1902.
It had a capital of 1,000,000 francs.
The Congo Free State held 2,400 shares and Robert Williams held 1,600 shares.
Théodore Heyvaert was president and Robert Williams was vice-president.
The CFK was to build links to the region where the city of Elisabethville (Lubumbashi) would be founded.
One line would connect to the Rhodesian railways at Sakania, while another would connect to the port of Bukama on the Lualaba River.
In early 1903 Williams discussed building a railway from Lobito on the Atlantic coast of Angola to the copper mines with the contractors Pauling & Co., but the costs proved excessive.
Instead, the Rhodesian railway was extended north from Bulawayo via the Wankie (Hwange) coal fields and Victoria Falls, reaching Kalomo in 1905 and Broken Hill (Kabwe) in 1906.
The TCL concession in Katanga expired on 28 October 1906 and the "Union Minière du Haut-Katanga" (UMHK) was formed to exploit the deposits.
The "Compagnie du Chemin de fer du Bas-Congo au Katanga" was founded on 31 October 1906 to build and operate a line linking Bukama to Port Francqui (Ilebo) on the Kasai River, from where minerals could be shipped to the Atlantic via Léopoldville (Kinshasa).
Robert Williams took only a minimal direct stake, while the UMHK had almost 10%, and the state became the main shareholder.
The "Société Générale de Belgique" and the associated "Banque d'Outremer" purchased a minority share in TCL in 1923.
In 1946 the French Government transferred 1,667,961 Ordinary shares of 10s. each in Tanganyika Concessions Ltd to the Bank of England, which the Bank agreed to sell to an Anglo-Belgian group.
These were about 19% of the voting power of all shareholders.
As of 1946 TCL held 20% of the voting power in "Union Minière du Haut-Katanga" and 90% of the voting power in the Benguela Railway.
In 1950 the company headquarters were moved to Salisbury, Rhodesia (Harare, Zimbabwe).
As of 1978 the headquarters were in Nassau, Bahamas, and shareholders included the Oppenheimer Group, the Rockefeller Group and other American interests.
In 1981 "Société Générale de Belgique" acquired a controlling interest in TCL, which still owned 90% of the Benguela Railway.
Subsidiaries.
Partial list.
The structure of the TCL group was complex and fluid,
Subsidiaries included:
"Union Minière du Haut-Katanga".
TCL was a partner with the "Société Générale de Belgique", a Belgian bank, in the "Union Minière du Haut-Katanga" (UMHK), which exploited copper deposits in Katanga Province.
The UMHK was founded in 1906 to develop mines in Katanga.
It was also to participate in building a railway to carry material and equipment to the mines and to take away the extracted minerals.
The "Société Générale" participated in setting up the UMHK under the direction of Jean Jadot.
The UMHK was the result of a compromise between the Free State and the Compagnie de Katanga as owners of the mineral deposit (through the CSK), the TCL who had found the mines, and the TCL and "Société Générale de Belgique" who would fund their exploitation.
UMHK was founded as a joint venture between the Compagnie du Katanga, the CSK and TCL.
The Compagnie du Katanga was in turn a subsidiary of the Compagnie du Congo pour le Commerce et l'Industrie (CCCI), which was controlled by the Société Générale de Belgique.
UMHK became the third largest copper producer in the world, the largest cobalt and radium producer and one of the largest producers of germanium.
Ownership was complicated and often changed.
The "Société Générale" effectively controlled the UMHK from its inception to 1960.
As of 1946 TCL held 20% of the voting power in the UMHK.
The president of TCL sat on the UMHK board, as did one TCL administrator.
In 1960, just before independence of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the dissolution of the CSK, ownership was:
In December 1966 President Mobutu Sese Seko announced that a new company (later named "Société Génerale Congolaise de Minerais" (Gécamines) would take over from UMHK as of 2 January 1967.
The new company have headquarters in Lubumbashi and would be owned 55% by the state.
15% would be offered to TCL and 30% would be offered to the public.
TCL declined to participate, and eventually Gécamines became 100% state-owned.
Benguela railway.
Williams became involved in building the Benguela railway, which was to carry minerals from the copper belt to the Atlantic port of Lobito near Benguela.
The "Caminhos de Ferro de Benguela" (CFB) was incorporated in Portugal in 1902, with a 99-year concession to build and operate the railway.
Its main purpose was to carry minerals for export.
It ran from Lobito to Texeira de Sousa (Luau), then crossed the Luao River into the Belgian Congo at Dilolo.
Construction lasted from 1903 to August 1928. It took another 22 months to complete the line from Dilolo to Tenke, where it connected with the Katanga network.
The line was officially opened on 1 July 1931.
The Benguela railway was less successful than had been hoped, and most of the minerals were carried east by the "Chemin de Fer du Bas-Congo au Katanga" (BCK) and the Rhodesian railway to Beira, Mozambique.
In 1975 the Benguela railway was closed in the unrest that followed independence.
During the subsequent Angolan Civil War (1975–2002) the railway remained closed and the tracks, bridges and rolling stock were destroyed.
The railway concession expired in 2001 and ownership passed to the Angolan government.
Benguela Estates.
The Benguela Estates Company and the Zambezi Exploring Company, subsidiaries of TCL, controlled the largest agricultural enterprise in Angola.
By 1933 they held in the highlands, worth £214,000.
The Benguela railway wanted to expand wheat production in the Ovimbundu region for export to the world market, and in 1932 made a considerable investment in developing more suitable strains of wheat for the government to distribute to Ovimbundu producers.
Rhodesia-Katanga Company.
TCL made an agreement in 1908 with the government of the Belgian Congo to build a railway from Broken Hill to the Katanga Border.
The Rhodesia-Katanga Junction Railway & Mineral Company was formed for this purpose, and also took over the Kansanshi mine and TCL's other copperbelt holdings.
The company became the Rhodesia-Katanga Company in 1929.
Kentan Gold Areas.
TCL learned that gold prospectors were having success in the area near Mgusu, southwest of Lake Victoria, and in 1934 formed Kentan Gold Area Limited to develop these finds.
It did so through its subsidiaries Saragura Development Company Limited and Geita Gold Mining Company Limited.
The Saragura Development Company explored holdings in the Saragura area of the Mwana District in Tanganyika in the 1930s.
Saragura Development transferred the Geita Mine to the Geita Gold Mining Company.
In 1958 Tanganyika Holdings Ltd. was providing office space and secretarial services to other companies in the group, had a large portfolio of investments including a sizable stake in Kentan, and was conducting an exploration program with companies that were not part of the group.
On 7 October 1958 Kentan Gold Area and Zambesia Exploring announced that they were discussing amalgamation.
Geita Gold Mining Company.
The Geita Gold Mining Company was set up to operate the Geita Gold Mine in Tanganyika, which was transferred to it from the Sagura Development Company, a subsidiary of Kentan Gold Areas.
Production began in 1936.
A 1937 report said it hoped to soon start crushing 500 tons per day, and could well become the largest gold producer in East Africa.
The company had built a road from the mine to Lake Victoria, where it had built a jetty.
It had built housing, medical facilities, set up a private wireless station and subsidized a weekly air service.
Gold milling began in Geita in December 1938.
In the early 1950s Geita employed about 2,000 men and produced more than half of the gold mined in Tanganyika, although this was much less than the peak production before World War II (1939–1945).
Geita struggled with financial problems until it closed in 1965, and seems to have been a net liability to TCL.
The mine produced over 1 million ounces of gold between 1936 and 1966.
As of 2021 it was owned and operated by AngloGold Ashanti.
Nile Congo Divide Syndicate.
The Nile Congo Divide Syndicate prospected for gold and tin in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and Uganda.
The syndicate explored the Hofrat en Nafas Copper Mine in southern Darfur between 1918 and 1922, sinking shafts and boreholes, but eventually abandoned the effort.
When the Kilo-Moto gold mines opened in the northeast Congo in 1920 the Nile Congo Divide Syndicate was among the prospecting companies that rushed to the region.
They failed to find worthwhile gold deposits, but did find low-grade copper in the Manya area of West Madi County, Uganda.
Zambesia Exploring Company.
Robert Williams and Cecil Rhodes founded the Zambesia Exploring Company (ZEC) in 1891 to explore and extract mineral deposits in Southern Rhodesia.
The ZEC followed the guidance of Rhodes, and did nothing without his approval.
In 1895 it was reported that the Zambasia Exploring Company had placed a large number of shares in United Rhodesia Goldfields in Paris.
The ZEC was a subsidiary of TCL in 1922.
The ZEC and TCL recruited thousands of workers from the northeast of Northern Rhodesia to work for the UMHK between 1917 and 1922.


Polymet Mining Corporation

The PolyMet Mining Corporation (, ), is based in Minnesota, United States with corporate headquarters in Toronto, Canada. It controls rights to the NorthMet Deposit in the Mesabi Range.
In 2011 PolyMet secured a four million dollar loan from the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board.


Christian Brevoort Zabriskie

Christian Brevoort Zabriskie (October 16, 1864 – February 8, 1936) was an American businessman and vice president of Pacific Coast Borax Company. Zabriskie Point on the northeasternmost flank of the Black Mountains east of Death Valley, located in Death Valley National Park is named after him.
Early years.
Christian Brevoort Zabriskie was born at Fort Bridger in Wyoming Territory, where his father, Capt. Elias B. Zabriskie, was stationed. The Zabriskie family descended from Albrycht Zaborowski (Albert Zabriskie), a Polish immigrant from Angerburg (Węgorzewo) in Ducal Prussia, who settled in New Jersey in 1662 alongside a Dutch community. Young Zabriskie attended various schools while growing up and at a very early age went to work as a telegrapher for the Virginia and Truckee Railroad at Carson City, Nevada. He was too restless and ambitious to stay in one place for very long and soon moved to Candelaria, Nevada, and worked for the Esmeralda County Bank.
Being an active young man, one job was not enough to keep him occupied and he soon branched out into other ventures, one of which was a partnership with a local cabinet maker to establish a mortuary. Neither of the two knew how to embalm, but it was not considered necessary in a mining town — prompt burial was.
Borax career.
Zabriskie's life took on new meaning in 1885 when F.M. "Borax" Smith hired him to supervise several hundred Chinese laborers at the Columbus Marsh area of the Pacific Coast Borax Company near Candelaria. This was the beginning of a lifelong career in the borax industry.
He ultimately became vice president and general manager of the company and served in that capacity for thirty-six years until his retirement in 1933. During this time, the Pacific Coast Borax Company had phased out most of its borax operations in the Candelaria vicinity but had moved on to greater production in the Death Valley area, the Calico Mountains near Yermo, California, and Searles Lake near Trona, California.
All this occurred long before 1933, when the area became Death Valley National Monument, but Zabriskie Point remains to honor a man who devoted many years of dedicated service to the Pacific Coast Borax Company. He died just three years after his retirement, in 1936.


Darr Mine disaster

The Darr Mine disaster at Van Meter, Rostraver Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, near Smithton, killed 239 men and boys on December 19, 1907. It ranks as the worst coal mining disaster in Pennsylvanian history.
An inquiry carried out after the disaster determined that the blast was the result of miners carrying open lamps in an area cordoned off the previous day by the fire boss. The mine’s owner, the Pittsburgh Coal Company was not held responsible but abandoned the use of open lamps after the disaster.
The Darr Mine blast was the third major mine disaster in December 1907 (which would become the deadliest mine fatality month in US history); it followed Yolande mine in Alabama explosion on December 16, the Monongah Mining disaster in West Virginia on December 6 that killed 362 miners and the Naomi Mine explosion on December 1 that killed 34 people in Fayette City, PA.


Karl Twitchell

Karl Twitchell (d. 1968) was an American mining engineer.
Twitchell worked for Charles Richard Crane, investigating water potential of Yemen. Crane then employed Twitchell to investigate the water prospects in Ibn Saud's Saudi Arabia. In April 1933, Twitchell determined no prospects for an artesian aquifer existed beneath the desert. After oil was discovered in Bahrain, Twitchell became Ibn Saud's agent in the United States, tasked with generating interest in a Saudi oil concession. In the United States, Socal retained Twitchell as a negotiator, and on 29 May 1933, Socal received such a concession.


Kuznetsky Alatau mine

The Kuznetsky Alatau mine is a large iron mine located in central-southern Russia in the Kemerovo Oblast. Kuznetsky Alatau represents one of the largest iron ore reserves in Russia and in the world having estimated reserves of 3 billion tonnes of ore grading 48% iron metal.


North Bloomfield Mining and Gravel Company

The North Bloomfield Mining and Gravel Company of North Bloomfield, California, was established in 1866 and operated a hydraulic gold-mining operation at the Malakoff Mine subsequent to the California Gold Rush. In its day, no other company's operations matched North Bloomfield Mining and Gravel Company in size or expense. The company operated until 1910. In the years prior, its profits and procedures had been reduced due to the landmark ruling of "Woodruff v. North Bloomfield Gravel Mining Company."
The mine is located within Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park, east of Highway 49 on Tyler Foote's Crossing Road, and north of Nevada City, California. The company office is still standing.
History.
The North Bloomfield Mining and Gravel Company was owned by 30 investors from San Francisco, led by railroad baron Lester I. Robinson, and William Ralston, a silver miner from Sun Mountain in Nevada. The company's water rights were the same watershed as Summit Water and Irrigation Company's but lower down on Canyon Creek. The principal reservoir was at Bowman Lake, while others included Crooked, Island, Middle, Round, English/Rudyard, Sawmill, and Shotgun Reservoirs. The company's main canal was the Bloomfield Ditch, but, according to Superintendent L.L. Meyers, only a small fraction of the ditch's water was used for irrigation and most was used for mine operations.
The company had numerous operations in Nevada County, including Union Diggings at Columbia Hill, but those at Malakoff Mine were the most notable. Completed in 1874-11-15, the North Bloomfield Mining and Gravel Company carved a long drainage tunnel through solid bedrock at Malakoff Mine. After tunnel completion, the company reached its peak processing of 50,000 tons of gravel each day by operating seven giant monitors twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. In the company's 1879 year-end report, the company's president hailed a major improvement as
"... electric light of 12,000 candle intensity ... to facilitate mining operations at night better than the pitch bonfires heretofore used."
Sawyer Decision.
The tailings, dumped into the Yuba River, destroyed farm land as far west as Sacramento, creating California's first major environmental controversy. in September 1882, Edwards Woodruff, a disgruntled New Yorker who owned farmland in Marysville, brought suit in "Woodruff v. North Bloomfield Gravel Mining Company", an anti-debris lawsuit. By June 1883, the case was at trial. On 1884-01-07, Judge Lorenzo Sawyer handed down what became known as the Sawyer Decision, among the first environmental decisions in the United States. While North Bloomfield Mining and Gravel Company was notable for operating the world's largest hydraulic gold mine in 1884, the Sawyer Decision abruptly ended hydraulic mining in Gold Country soon after. The tailings can still be found on the river as the Yuba Goldfields.
California Historical Landmark.
North Bloomfield Mining and Gravel Company was registered as California Historical Landmark No. 852 in 1972-01-20. The plaque is situated at the park diggins overlook, affixed to a rock wall, and states:
NORTH BLOOMFIELD MINING AND GRAVEL COMPANY
"This was a major hydraulic gold-mining operation in California. It boasted a vast system of canals and flumes, its 7,800-foot drainage tunnel was termed a feat of engineering skill. It was the principal defendant in an anti-debris lawsuit settled in 1884 by Judge Lorenzo Sawyer's famous decision, which created control that virtually ended hydraulic mining in California."
CALIFORNIA REGISTERED HISTORICAL LANDMARK NO. 852
Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Malakoff Citizens' Advisory Committee and E Clampus Vitus No. 10, June 11, 1972.


Lingerbay

Lingerbay ("Lingearabhagh") in Harris, Scotland, was the subject of one of the Western Isles's longest controversies (see Harris Super Quarry).
The original 'superquarry' planning application, submitted in 1991, was to extract 600 million tonnes of anorthosite rock over a period of 60 years, from Roineabhal, an isolated area of South Harris in the Western Isles.
The proposal prompted numerous objections and led to the formation of a body called the Link Quarry Group (LQG). The Quarry Group was concerned about the quarry's location in a designated National Scenic Area, questions over the sustainability of extracting vast quantities of rock for use in motorway construction, the potential for marine pollution from the increased shipping traffic and impacts on the biodiversity of the area including a pair of golden eagles.
Due to the concerns raised the Scottish Executive held a Public Local Inquiry in Stornoway, which ran over 9 months from October 1994 until June 1995. It was then a further four years before the recommendations from the inquiry were completed and submitted to the Scottish Executive. Finally, in November 2000 Sam Galbraith as Minister for Environment, Sport and Culture (including responsibility for Planning) turned down the application.
In 2001, a second inquiry was held into the legal validity of a consent apparently granted in 1965. Scottish Ministers decide that a consent was granted for a small quarry rather than the large area claimed by the applicants. The applicants lodge and appeal with the Court of Session, agreeing that no redetermination of the 1991 application should take place until this appeal is decided. In January 2004 the decision by Scottish Ministers, that the 1965 consent relates to a small area of quarrying activity is upheld.
In April 2004 Lafarge decided to withdraw their 1991 application and announced their intention to drop their proposals for the site.
As in several other environmental controversies in Scotland, the Ròineabhal question was argued on both sides by parties not resident in the country.


Tiger International Resources

Tiger International Resources is a junior mining and exploration company based in British Columbia, Canada.
The company has a license to exploit the Itogon Project near Baguio in northern Luzon, Philippines.
The mine was operational before World War II, and Tiger intends to bring it back into production. There may also be copper deposits.


Broxburn

Broxburn (, IPA:[ˈs̪ɾaˈvɾɔʰk]) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, on the A89 road, from the West End of Edinburgh , from Edinburgh Airport and to the north of Livingston.
Etymology.
The name Broxburn is a corruption of "brock's burn", brock being an old Scots name for a badger from the Gaelic "broc" and burn being a Scots word for a large stream or small river. The village was earlier known as Easter Strathbrock (Uphall was Wester Strathbrock) with Strath coming from the Gaelic "srath" meaning a river valley.
History.
The village that later became Broxburn probably originated around 1350 when Margery le Cheyne inherited the eastern half of the Barony of Strathbrock (Easter Strathbrock) on the death of her father, Sir Reginald le Cheyne III. The hamlet that grew up around her residence was then called Eastertoun (eastern town) after the land on which it stood. The lands of Strathbrock were earlier owned by Freskin the Fleming, granted to him under a charter from King David I.
Easter Strathbrock was burned to the ground sometime in 1443-4 during a conflict between William, Earl of Douglas, Lieutenant-General of Scotland, and William, Lord Crichton, Chancellor of Scotland. It was destroyed again in 1455 during fighting between the Douglases and King James II. After the conflict, peace was regained and the town was gradually resettled.
The village was renamed Broxburn in 1600 by Sir Richard Cockburn of Clerkington, Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland, almost certainly after Broxburn, East Lothian.
Industry.
Past.
Broxburn remained an agricultural community until the development of the oil shale industry in the area during the second half of the nineteenth century. This brought in a rapid influx of workers, greatly expanding the local population. Broxburn is still known for its association with the industry, pioneered by the inventor and industrialist James Young. Many shale spoil tips, known as bings, are still in evidence around the town.
Up until its closure in 2013, Hall's of Broxburn employed around 1,700 employees at its meat processing plant to the east of the town. At the time of closure, it was the largest, single employer in Broxburn.
Present.
Broxburn now has two separate industrial areas, the Greendykes Industrial Estate and the East Mains Industrial Estate, which provide employment for local people. The largest employers are Campbells Prime Meat Limited, Glenmorangie and Broxburn Bottlers Limited (part of Ian Macleod Distillers Ltd).
Governance.
Broxburn lies in the Livingston constituency of the British Parliament and the Almond Valley constituency of the Scottish Parliament.
Before Brexit, it was part of the Scotland European Parliament constituency.
For Local Government purposes, it is part of; the Broxburn, Uphall and Winchburgh Ward of West Lothian Council and is part of West Lothian Council 2nd ward, which also includes the nearby villages of Uphall and Winchburgh
Leisure.
The Union Canal passes through Broxburn. It no longer operates as a transport link, but is now used for fishing, magnet fishing and some leisure boating. It has a towpath previously used by the horses which drew canal barges and which is now used as a footpath, the foot paths are popular places for dog walkers, bikers, runners and walkers.
The Shale Bings.
The 3 Broxburn Bings (Greendikes Bing, Albion Oil Works Bing and Hopetoun Bing) reside on the north east of Broxburn starting from behind the East Mains Industrial estate. The nearby Niddry Bing resides near the village of Winchburgh. The largest of the three Bings is the Greendykes Bing which when scaled provides excellent views of the whole area. The Bings were created by large piles of spoil from the shale mines being dumped on top of each over to form the Bings.
Education.
Broxburn has four schools, all state-funded, Broxburn Primary, Kirkhill Primary, St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Primary and Broxburn Academy.
Sports and health.
Broxburn is home to the football club Broxburn Athletic, who play in the East of Scotland League. There are sports and health facilities publicly available, including a sports centre, library, swimming pool and bowling clubs.
A motorcycle dirt track was built at The Sports Park in 1928 and a few demonstration events were staged to show off the new sport to football fans. Due to Broxburn's proximity to Edinburgh it was not licensed. Another demonstration event at motorcycle club event in 1929 ended after both riders crashed.
Transport.
Broxburn has regular links to Edinburgh, Livingston, Linlithgow and Edinburgh Airport. Operators serving the town include, First, Lothian Country & E&M Horsburgh. The nearest railway station is at Uphall providing links to Edinburgh, Livingston, Bathgate, Airdrie and Glasgow.
Hospitals.
The local hospital is St. John's Hospital at Howden in Livingston. Broxburn has its own health centre at the Strathbrock Partnership Centre.
Churches.
Broxburn has six churches;
There are also some other religious groups active in the town, including Jehovah's Witnesses and several evangelical Christian organisations.


Mahaboboka

Mahaboboka is a town and commune () in Madagascar. It belongs to the district of Sakaraha, which is a part of Atsimo-Andrefana Region. The population of the commune was estimated to be approximately 3,000 in 2001 commune census.
Primary and junior level secondary education are available in town. The majority 80% of the population of the commune are farmers, while an additional 10% receives their livelihood from raising livestock. The most important crop is rice, while other important products are cassava and sweet potatoes. Services provide employment for 8% of the population. Additionally fishing employs 2% of the population.
Economy.
Natural gas has been discovered in Mahaboboka in 2016.
Rivers.
Mahaboboka lies at the Fiherenana River.


Adrar Emoles mine

The Adrar Emoles mine is a large mine located in the northern part of Niger in Agadez Region. Adrar Emoles represents one of the largest uranium reserves in Niger having estimated reserves of 27.7 million tonnes of ore grading 0.07% uranium.


Corocoro United Copper Mines

The Corocoro United Copper Mines, Ltd. was the largest copper mine in Bolivia, an honor previously held by Compania Corocoro de Bolivia. The corporate office was at 151 Finsbury Pavement House, London, England, while the mine office was at Coro Coro, Bolivia. It was organized August 6, 1909 under the laws of Great Britain. The lands included 515 claims in the Coro Coro district. The principal mines were the Wisk'achani, formerly owned by J. K. Child & Co., Ltd.; the Santa Rosa, formerly owned by Carreras Hermanos; and the Guallatiri, formerly owned by the Succession Noel Berthin. The mines were opened on two successive conglomerate strata of different geological horizons, and similar only in their origin and cupriferous nature. The mines are believed to have been worked by the Incas. The nearest water supply was the Rio Desaguadero, away, down which the copper was shipped by way of Puerto de Desaguadero, and from there to Mollendo, Chile, for export to Europe.


Jacob Diamond

The Jacob Diamond, also known as the Imperial or Victoria Diamond, is a colorless Golconda diamond ranked as the fifth-biggest polished diamond in the world. The last nizam of the Hyderabad State, Mir Osman Ali Khan, found the diamond in the toe of the shoe of his father (Mahboob Ali Khan) at Chowmahalla Palace and used it as a paper weight for a long time. It was bought by the government of India for an estimated $13 million in 1995. It is cut in a rectangular cushion-cut, with 58 facets, and measures 39.5 mm long, 29.25 mm wide and 22.5 mm deep. The diamond weighs 184.75 carats (36.90 g). Currently, it is kept at the Reserve Bank of India vaults in Mumbai. As part of the nizam's jewellery exhibition in 2001 and 2007, the Jacob Diamond was a major attraction at Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad.
Unlike the famous Koh-i-Noor, the Jacob Diamond has changed hands only twice in the history of its existence and has not been associated with violence.
History.
Before it was sent to Europe to be cut, the uncut diamond is believed to have been over in weight.
The diamond was put up for sale in 1891 by Alexander Malcolm Jacob, hence the name. It was offered to Mahbub Ali Khan (the sixth nizam of Hyderabad). Initially, the nizam was quite uninterested in the diamond and offered a mere 46 lakhs (4 million rupees) for it. The nizam was asked to make a good faith deposit if he was to go through with the transaction. The European jewel cutters did not like this offer but were forced into court when they lost track of the nizam's deposit. Ultimately, the nizam was awarded the diamond for almost half his original offer, 23 lakhs (2.2 million rupees, approx. $50,000 at 2005 rates) when the case was resolved. Disillusioned by the process, and now considering the diamond to be unlucky, the nizam wrapped it in cloth and hid it away.
It was several years after the death of his father that the last nizam, Osman Ali Khan, found the Jacob Diamond in the toe of his father's shoe at Chowmahalla Palace, and he himself used it as a paperweight for a long time until the diamond's true value was realized. Later, the family wished to sell the Jacob among other jewels, but the Government of India blocked the sale, citing that the jewels is a national treasure that could not be sold to foreigners.
After much litigation, the diamond was purchased by the Government of India from the nizam's trust for an estimated and petty $13 million in 1995, along with other jewels of the nizams, and is held at the Reserve Bank of India vaults in Mumbai.
As part of the nizam's jewellery exhibition in 2001 and 2007, the Jacob diamond was a major attraction at Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad.


Ralph Smith (Canadian politician)

Ralph Smith (August 8, 1858 – February 17, 1917) was a Canadian coal miner, labour leader, and politician.
Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, he emigrated to Canada with his wife in 1891 settling in Nanaimo, British Columbia. A miner by trade, Smith was a moderate trade unionist in Nanaimo. In 1898, he won election to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia on a moderate "Liberal-Labour" platform. He ran for Vancouver's seat in the House of Commons of Canada in the 1900 federal election. Reports vary on whether he ran as an Independent Labour-Liberal candidate defeating the official Liberal and Conservative candidates, but once elected, he joined the Liberal caucus. He was re-elected in the 1904 and 1908 elections as a Liberal. He was defeated in the 1911 election. Smith subsequently returned to provincial politics and, returned to the provincial legislature in the 1916 provincial election that brought the British Columbia Liberal Party to power.
Smith served as Minister of Finance in the government of Premier Harlan Carey Brewster, and died in office on February 17, 1917. His wife, Mary Ellen Smith, succeeded him in the subsequent by-election (held January 1918) as an Independent Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). She subsequently became the first female cabinet minister in the British Empire.
Ralph Smith was a supporter of women's suffrage, which was enacted in the province shortly after the Liberals came to power after ten previous attempts over the years had failed.


Mercur, Utah

Mercur is a historical hard rock mining ghost town in Tooele County, Utah, United States. In 1891, it became the site of the first successful use of the cyanide process of gold extraction in the United States, the dominant metallurgy today. Its elevation above sea level is approximately 2,042 m. The nearby Mercur Gold Mine was re-opened by Barrick Gold in 1985, with mining operations again coming to an end in 1997. The reclamation and restoration project was set to continue up to 2010.
History.
The town first came into being in 1870 as "Lewiston" (not to be confused with the present-day city of Lewiston in Cache County), when gold was discovered at the head of the Lewiston Canyon, six miles west of present-day Cedar Fort. A small gold rush began, peaking about 1873; the population reached as high as 2000. During the mid-1870s, silver boomed, and silver mines were opened and quartz mills to process the ore were built. A million dollars worth of silver bullion was shipped down the valley, but the ore quickly gave out, and Lewiston became a ghost town by 1880.
In 1879, a Bavarian miner named Arie Pinedo had discovered a deposit of cinnabar in the area. The ore contained gold as well as mercury, but contemporary processes were unable to extract it. Similar discoveries were made throughout the 1880s.
In 1890, a group of Nebraska "farmers" bought the Mercur claim through an over optimistic promoter. They opened the mine and put in a basic amalgamation mill, a grand flop. Mercur ores were not workable with the ancient process. One of the Nebraska partners, Gilbert S. "Gill" Peyton, a former druggist, heard of the new but unperfected cyanide process and gave it a try. Fearful of losing his and his relatives investment, he solved the difficulties of the new method on the ores, and by December 1891 proved that the cyanide process worked – the first such successful operation in the United States. (The cyanide process has come to dominate western gold metallurgy.) As a result, Peyton and his brother-in-law, partner Hal Brown became rich, as did others of the Nebraska group, including company president John Dern, a Fremont, Nebraska grain dealer soon-to-be Salt Lake City business leader. (Brown's niece married Dern's son George, who became a manager of Mercur Con, a successful mining engineer, and Utah governor, 1925-1933; he then served as Secretary of War under Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933-1936).
The advent of the cyanide process started the gold rush all over again. Gold was extracted not only from newly mined ore, but from old tailings as well. Soon, there were enough people to build a new town on the old site, but the name of "Lewiston" was already taken by then. The citizens settled on the name "Mercur", from the Nebraska company's name, which in turn came from the name of Pinedo's claim. A branch railroad was built in the fall and winter of 1894. A dozen mining operations worked the area's ores with the largest being the Golden Gate Mining Company, which operated the largest cyanide mill in the U. S. in 1898-1902 (A young Daniel C. Jackling, of later Bingham Canyon fame, designed the structure which is visible in photos above the town). In 1902, Joseph DeLamar sold the Golden Gate operation to the Derns and partners, who formed the Mercur Consolidated. Gill Peyton and Hal Brown had sold out by then. Brown became a Utah banker and promoter of horse racing while Peyton began working mines across the country and in Mexico. He left Salt Lake City, where he sold his Greek revival mansion, Peyton Hall, now known as the McIntyre Mansion, and died in California in 1930, looking for a second Mercur mine bonanza.
Amongst the miners were many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There was, however, no organization of the church in Mercur until 1896 when a branch was organized with Charles B. Felt as president. In 1899, Moses W. Reynolds, James Duckworth and Sidney S. Reynolds were sent to the town as missionaries. Their success in both bringing church members out and possibly having some convert baptisms led to the organization of a ward in Mercur on July 1, 1900 with George W. Bryan as bishop.
In 1902, a fire that started in the business district of the town burned almost the entire city to the ground. The town was rebuilt and mining resumed again.
In its heyday, there were about 5,000 residents of Mercur.
Mercur supported a large Italian immigrant community; young men were attracted by the opportunity of high wages and the romance of the American "wild west". With this Italian influence, Columbus Day became an important city event including parades, games and performances by the Mercur City Band.
The ward was discontinued in 1913 because the mines had closed and the majority of the population had moved away.
By 1916, there was only one building left in Mercur, and by 1930 it was gone.
Mercur Gold Mine.
The most recently producing Mercur Gold Mine went into production in 1985, and is operated by Barrick Mercur Gold Mines Foundation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Barrick Gold. Annual production was about $US 20 million.
Mercur is known for producing specimens of the rare thallium sulfosalt mineral lorándite, TlAsS2. The mining operations again came to an end in 1997, with the processing mill continuing to run until late 1998


Daniel Guggenheim

Daniel Guggenheim (July 9, 1856 – September 28, 1930) was an American mining magnate and philanthropist, and a son of Meyer and Barbara Guggenheim. By 1910 he directed the world's most important group of mining interests. He was forced out in 1922 and retired to philanthropy to promote aviation. His achievements include a system for innovation, as well as leadership in amicable labor relations, and major roles in aviation and rocketry.
Biography.
Guggenheim was born and raised in Philadelphia, the son of Meyer Guggenheim and his wife Barbara. Meyer Guggenheim was of Jewish descent. Daniel Guggenheim was sent to Switzerland as a young man to study the Swiss lace and embroidery business, and to serve as a buyer for his father's import firm. The discovery of high-grade silver-lead ore in the Guggenheim mines in Leadville, Colorado, in 1881 became the foundation for the Guggenheim fortune in mining. In 1884, Daniel returned to the US to help manage the family's booming mining and smelting business. Daniel helped to establish the Guggenheim mining and smelting business in Mexico, which by 1895 was earning profits of $1 million a year.
In 1891 his father, Meyer, consolidated about a dozen of the family’s mining operations into the Colorado Smelting and Refining Company. The Guggenheim family then entered a lengthy struggle with the American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO), backed by the Rockefeller family. By 1901 the Guggenheims had acquired control of ASARCO, and became the dominant force in the mining industry for the next three decades. Daniel was named chairman of the board of ASARCO, and directed the trust until 1919.
Following his father's death in 1905, Daniel assumed control of the Guggenheim family enterprises. Through ASARCO, Kennecott Copper and other family-owned companies, the Guggenheims mined tin in Bolivia, gold in the Yukon, diamonds and rubber in the Belgian Congo, diamonds in Angola, and copper in Alaska, Utah, and Chile. Daniel Guggenheim's business policies affected entire nations. "It was said that Daniel could make or break a government with a telegram," his biographer John H. Davis wrote. Daniel was power hungry and tenacious. He suffered repeatedly with stomach ulcers and hypertension. The Guggenheim family amassed enormous wealth through their mining enterprises. By 1918, the family fortune was estimated at $250 million to $300 million, making them among the richest people in the world.
Daniel was a member of the National Security League, the driving force for moving the then-neutral USA into World War I, which was headed by J.P. Morgan.
Long-simmering family disagreements reached a climax in 1922, when the older Guggenheim brothers were accused of milking ASARCO, which they controlled, for the benefit of their family business, Guggenheim Brothers. The ASARCO board then voted the brothers out of control. After other family disagreements and business setbacks, Daniel retired in 1923 at the age of 67.
Personal life.
On July 22, 1884, he married Florence Shloss; they had three children: Meyer Robert Guggenheim; Harry Frank Guggenheim; and Gladys Eleanor Guggenheim Straus. He died on September 28, 1930, at his palatial home, Hempstead House, in Port Washington, New York. He was 74.
Aviation.
During the war, Daniel's son Harry Guggenheim became a pilot and both became avid supporters of aviation technology. In the 1920s they established the Daniel Guggenheim Medal for achievement in aeronautics and provided grants via the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics for aeronautics research at California Institute of Technology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, Northwestern University, Stanford University, Syracuse University, the University of Akron, the University of Michigan, and the University of Washington. In 1927 he offered a $100,000 main prize and five $10,000 prizes for the "Guggenheim Safe Aircraft Competition", which required entered aircraft to be stable in rough air, land in 500 feet and take off in 300 feet, both over a 35-foot obstacle and be able to sustain flight at 35 mph, and 38 mph with the power off. 15 aircraft were entered of which only two, the American Curtiss Tanager and the British Handley Page Gugnunc met the requirements. The Curtiss Tanager was awarded as the winner in dubious circumstances, and then Handley Page sued Curtiss for unlicensed use of Handley Page slats, and worse, neither of the finalists saw production or service afterwards; however, indirectly, the competition influenced designers in building safer aircraft.
Alaska.
Guggenheim sparked controversy in the district of Alaska from 1906 onward. He was approached by Stephen Birch, a wealthy miner with ambitions for the development of Alaska and its railroads, in regards to financing Birch's developing copper claims. Guggenheim and his brother formed a gentlemen's agreement with Birch to form the Alaska Syndicate, which purchased just under half of the stock in Birch's company and all of the stock in the Copper River and Northwestern Railway. All of this sparked an "anti-Guggenheim" movement which was integral in political elections and appointments of 1908 in Alaska.


Katuginskoy mine

The Katuginskoy mine is a large mine located in the southern part of Russia in Zabaykalsky Krai. Katuginskoy represents one of the largest tantalum reserves in Russia having estimated reserves of 774 million tonnes of ore grading 0.025% tantalum.


Burt Z. Kasson

Burt Zelotes Kasson (August 23, 1877 in Gloversville, Fulton County, New York – September 26, 1943 in Gloversville, Fulton Co., NY) was an American engineer and politician from New York.
Life.
He was the son of Harvey Zelotes Kasson and Ella (Dean) Kasson. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1897. He attended Harvard College, but left without degree during his junior year, and then became a mining engineer and surveyor.
On November 22, 1911, he married Grace Adams Martin (born 1882), and they had several children, among them John Martin Kasson (1919–2008) who was Clerk of Fulton County.
Kasson was a member of the Board of Supervisors of Fulton County from 1912 to 1915; and was Chairman of the Board for two years. He was a member of the New York State Assembly (Fulton and Hamilton Co.) in 1916, 1917 and 1918; and a member of the New York State Senate (35th D.) in 1919 and 1920.
Later he was Fulton County Superintendent of Highways.


The Fylde

The Fylde () is a coastal plain in western Lancashire, England. It is roughly a square-shaped peninsula, bounded by Morecambe Bay to the north, the Ribble estuary to the south, the Irish Sea to the west, and the foot of the Bowland hills to the east which approximates to a section of the M6 motorway and West Coast Main Line.
Geography.
It is a flat, alluvial plain; parts of which have deposits of and were once dug for peat, and it is the western part of an area formerly known as Amounderness. The River Wyre meanders across the Fylde from Garstang on the eastern edge, westwards towards Poulton and then northwards to the sea at Fleetwood. The area north and east of the tidal Wyre, known as Over Wyre, is the more rural side of the river. The Fylde is roughly trisected by the M55 motorway and A586 road.
The west coast is almost entirely urban, containing the towns of Fleetwood, Cleveleys, Blackpool, St Annes and Lytham; with Thornton, Carleton and Poulton-le-Fylde not far inland. This area forms the Blackpool Urban Area. The central southern part of the Fylde includes the smaller towns of Kirkham and Wesham. The rest of the Fylde is rural, containing villages that include Freckleton, Warton, Wrea Green, Great Eccleston, Hambleton, Knott End and Pilling.
Geology.
The Fylde is underlain by sedimentary bedrock of Triassic age though it is everywhere concealed by a thick cover of superficial deposits (exceeding 30m thickness in places) laid down during the present Quaternary period. The older rocks are the Sherwood Sandstones which ‘subcrop’ in the east. The slightly younger mudstones and siltstones of the Mercia Mudstone Group are found west of a line drawn roughly between Freckleton, St Michael's on Wyre and Preesall. The group is subdivided into formations and members; one in particular is of note, the ‘Preesall Halite member’, traditionally referred to as the Preesall Salt. It was the basis of former commercial operations in the area. Amongst others, boreholes sunk in connection with the former saltfield have provided much of the information on the bedrock of the area. The Mythop salt beds within the Mercia Mudstone succession are also conjectured to outcrop beneath the southwest corner of the Fylde.
The Quaternary cover consists of glacial till deriving from the last ice age (Devensian) together with some scattered glaciofluvial deposits, mainly sand and gravel. A small drumlin field is recognised between Preesall, Thornton and Hambleton. Of more recent origin are clays, silts, sands and gravels forming both modern river floodplains and river terraces, most of which are associated with the River Wyre and its tributaries. Also post-glacial in age are the clays and silts of the broad tidal flats around Fleetwood and the Morecambe Bay coast and the Ribble estuary. Large areas of blown sand forming dune systems characterise the coastal zone north and east of Lytham St Annes whilst a thinner strip follows the north coast east from Fleetwood. Peat deposits are common in the shallow north-south valley occupied by Main Dyke just east of Blackpool and also forming the mosses in the northeast of the area.
Governance.
The Borough of Fylde is a local government area covering the south of the Fylde plain. The rest is covered by the boroughs of Wyre and Blackpool to the north and west respectively. The local justice area covering all of the Fylde is called Fylde Coast.
The FY postcode area, whose letters refer to the Fylde, covers its western half — the eastern half is in the PR postcode area.


Vedanta Jharsuguda Captive Power Plant

Vedanta Jharsuguda Power Station is a coal based thermal captive power plant located near Jharsuguda town in Jharsuguda district in the Indian state of Odisha. The power plant was commissioned in July 2008, and is operated by the Vedanta Resources. It supplies power to aluminum smelter of Vedanta Resources.
The coal for the plant is sourced from Ib Valley Coalfield. Water is sourced from reservoir of Hirakud Dam. The Engineering, procurement and construction contract is given to SEPCO3 of People's Republic of China.
Capacity.
The plant's installed capacity is 1,215 MW being 9x135 MW units.


Minmi Rangers FC

Minmi Rangers Football Club was an Australian football club that was a foundation member of the Northern District British Football Association. It was the most successful club in the competition in the 1880s and 1890s.
History.
Minmi Rangers FC was formed on 9 September 1884. Members of the inaugural team were expatriate Scottish coal miners who had settled in Minmi. By 1886 the Rangers had won their first Newcastle & District premiership. They proceeded to win the premierships of 1887, 1888, 1889, 1891, 1892 and 1893. During the same period, they won the knockout Ellis Cup competition in 1886, 1887, 1888, 1890, 1892, 1893, 1895 and 1898.
Minmi's biggest triumph came in 1892, when it claimed the Gardiner Cup. The Gardiner Cup was, from 1885 to 1928, the biggest prize in New South Wales football. Minmi 3-0 triumphed in the final against Sydney namesakes, Pyrmont Rangers.
The fortunes of Minmi Rangers FC had dwindled by the turn of the century. No further success would come after 1898. A downturn in the local coal industry saw players depart Minmi, and by 1911 the club had lost its senior competition status.


David John Lewis

David John Lewis (May 1, 1869 – August 12, 1952) was an American politician from Maryland, serving in the Maryland State Senate and the United States House of Representatives.
Early life.
Born near Osceola Mills, Centre County, Pennsylvania to Welsh immigrants, Lewis worked in the local coal mines from 1878 to 1892. He studied law and Latin in his spare time, was admitted to the bar in 1892, and commenced practice in Cumberland, Maryland.
Political career.
Lewis served as a member of the Maryland State Senate from 1902 to 1906, and was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for election to the Sixty-first Congress in 1908. In 1910, he was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-second, Sixty-third, and Sixty-fourth Congresses, serving the sixth district of Maryland from March 4, 1911 to March 3, 1917. During the Sixty-third and Sixty-fourth Congresses, he served as chairman of the House Committee on Labor. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1916, but was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for election to the United States Senate.
From April 1917 to March 1925, Lewis was a member of the United States Tariff Commission. He was again an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate in 1922, and resumed the practice of law in Cumberland. He was again elected to the Seventy-second and to the three succeeding Congresses, serving the sixth district of Maryland from March 4, 1931 to January 3, 1939, but was not a candidate for renomination in 1938, having run for senator, challenging incumbent Millard Tydings in the Democratic primary. Lewis was more sympathetic to the New Deal than Tydings and won the backing of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Nevertheless, his third bid for the Senate was again unsuccessful, and instead he served as a member of the National Mediation Board from 1939 to 1943. He died in Cumberland on August 12, 1952 and is interred in Hillcrest Cemetery.
Social Security Act.
David John Lewis was the leading expert on social insurance legislation on the House Ways & Means Committee. He introduced the Social Security bill into the House on January 17, 1935. However, Chairman Doughton, exercising what he took to be the Chairman's privileges, made a copy of Lewis' bill and submitted it himself. Then he persuaded the House clerk to give him a lower number than Lewis' copy. Newspapers then began calling the bill "The Wagner-Doughton bill." When Lewis found out, he sputtered and swore, then went to work to understand every sentence and master the arguments in favor of the bill. And when David Lewis walked down the aisle of the House to debate on the bill's behalf, he received a standing ovation.


Archduke Joseph (diamond)

The Archduke Joseph is a colorless, antique cushion-shaped brilliant, originally weighing 78.54 carat, purchased by Molina Jewelers of Arizona sometime in the late-1990s and slightly re-cut to 76.45 carat to improve clarity and symmetry. It is, on the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) color and clarity scales, a D grade (colorless to the highest grade), IF (Internally Flawless, flawless to the second highest grade) diamond (in short: a DIF or a DIF diamond) and the largest DIF ever graded at the GIA; and it is of type IIa (as determined by the Gübelin Gem Lab of Lucerne, Switzerland).
History.
The Archduke Joseph originated in India's Golconda mines, where the colorless Koh-i-Noor, the blue Hope Diamond and other famous diamonds also originated. It was named after Archduke Joseph August of Austria, its first recorded owner who had it deposited in the vault of the Hungarian General Credit Bank on 1 June 1933 in the presence of a State Counselor. This was the first record of the existence of the Archduke Joseph diamond. How it made its way into the ownership of Archduke Joseph August of Austria is not known. In 1936 it was sold to an anonymous buyer who is believed to have been a European banker and kept in France, locked away in a safe deposit box, where it remained undiscovered from the German occupation powers during World War II. It surfaced at auction (but not sold) in 1961 in London and again at Christie's in Geneva in November 1993. On 13 November 2012 the Archduke Joseph (76.02 carat) was sold for more than 20m Swiss frank ($21,474,525 including commission) at Christie's auction house by Alfredo J. Molina, chairman of California-based jeweler Black, Starr & Frost, to an anonymous bidder. The price was $6m above the $15m pre-sale estimate and more than three times the price of $6.5m it reached when it was last sold in 1993. The price fetched was a world record for a Golconda diamond and a world record price per carat for a colorless diamond.


Wafangzi mine

The Wafangzi mine is a mine located in the north of China in Inner Mongolia. Wafangzi represents one of the largest manganese reserve in China having estimated reserves of 37.7 million tonnes of manganese ore grading 24% manganese metal.


John W. Cassingham

John Wilson Cassingham (June 22, 1840 – March 14, 1930) was a U.S. Representative from Ohio for two terms from 1901 to 1905.
Early life and career.
Born in Coshocton, Ohio, Cassingham attended the public schools.
Deputy county treasurer 1857-1868.
He engaged in the mercantile business from 1868 to 1875 and in the mining of coal in 1875.
Later also engaged in the manufacture of paper and in banking.
County auditor 1880-1887.
Trustee of the public library of Coshocton.
He served as member of the board of education.
He served as president of the Coshocton Board of Trade.
He served as delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1896.
Congress.
Cassingham was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-seventh and Fifty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1901 – March 3, 1905).
He declined to be a candidate for reelection in 1904 to the Fifty-ninth Congress.
Retirement and death.
Reengaged in his former business interests in Coshocton until 1915, when he retired from active pursuits.
He died in Coshocton on March 14, 1930, and was interred in South Lawn Cemetery.


Carrascal

', officially the ' (Surigaonon: "Lungsod nan Carrascal"; ), is a in the province of , . According to the , it has a population of people.
Geography.
Unique physical features of Carrascal are the uneven distribution of its lowlands and rolling hills. Carrascal is the boundary town of Surigao del Sur with Surigao del Norte.
Barangays.
Carrascal is politically subdivided into 14 barangays. Babuyan, Dahican and Caglayag were converted into a barrio in 1956.
Climate.
Carrascal has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with heavy to very heavy rainfall year-round and with extremely heavy rainfall from December to February. With over 5000 mm of rain, it is the wettest place in the Philippines.
Economy.
Mining industry.
Carrascal, known for its mining economy, is home to a number of large-scale mining firms. In early 2017, CTP Construction and Mining Corporation and Carrascal Nickel Corporation that operated near coastal areas while Marcventures Mining and Development Corporation in a declared watershed were found violating the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) policy, thus sanctioned for closure. Economic pressures felt immediately by its local stakeholders; controversially and concurrently, the Philippine political machinery intervened at the national stage. Short-lived environmental court sanctions was then rescinded later that same year due to an injunctive relief from "filed motions and appeal for reconsideration" allowing mining re-operations that environmental group Caraga Watch vehemently contested as "inutile and bankrupt mining law and policies;" further prompting for pre-emptive, sensible environmental watch and on-going national/local discussions before waking-up to extractive gas drill operations in its shorelines.
Special areas of economic considerations.
The ideal candidate site of proposed wind power projects is located approximately 300 meter masl in the mining area near Carrascal. It is accessible from a highway under perpetual reconstruction and further made accessible by exploration roads constructed by mining companies. The terrain is mostly flat, with minimal vegetation, causing minimal turbulence to wind flow in the area. It overlooks the Philippine Sea from the southeast and the north-west directions. Some permanent deformations of small trees indicate that the wind typically comes from the north-east direction. Ground measurements yielded wind speeds of 8–11 m/s, which, by industry standards has excellent wind power potential. However, further validation studies of at least one year of wind data gathered from the site is nonexistent. Transmission lines of the local cooperative pass through this wind power candidate site, making it more attractive for wind and/ solar energy development to alleviate badly needed energy infrastructure to sustain large scale industrialization and its lofty bid to become the northernmost "city" of Surigao del Sur.


Bagdad mine

The Bagdad Mine is a large copper mine located in Arizona, in the southwestern part of the United States. Bagdad represents one of the largest copper reserves in the United States and in the world, having estimated reserves of 873.6 million tonnes of ore grading 0.36% copper. It is located in Yavapai County, Arizona, just west of the unincorporated community of Bagdad. It is owned by Freeport-McMoRan. Copper is produced from chalcopyrite and molybdenum from molybdenite. Copper oxides include chrysocolla, malachite and azurite. The mine's concentrator has a capacity of 75,000 metric tons per day using stockpile leaching, with pressure leaching for molybdenum.
Copper was first mined at the site in 1882. The town of Bagdad, Arizona was built as a company town to house mine workers.
In 2016, copper production at Bagdad amounted to 177 million pounds. In 2017, copper production amounted to 173 million pounds and nearly 900 people were employed there.


Herman Tripp

Herman Tilden Tripp (August 6, 1859 – July 5, 1939) was an Alaskan politician, including mayor of Juneau, Alaska from 1906 to 1907. He was also a Republican member of the First Alaska Territorial Senate from 1913 to 1914, and a member of the Fifth Alaska Territorial House of Representatives, from 1921 to 1922. For both terms, he represented Juneau.


Tadong mine

The Tadong mine is a large iron mine located in northern China. Tadong represents one of the largest iron ore reserves in China and in the world having estimated reserves of 177 million tonnes of ore grading 25.2% iron metal.


Jacobina mine

The Jacobina mine is one of the largest gold mines in the Brazil, and in the world.
The mine is located in Bahia state, in the eastern region of Brazil .
The mine has estimated reserves of 4.5 million oz of gold. It is owned by Yamana Gold.

Virginia Beach Town Center station

Kellam Road and Constitution Drive were two planned light rail stations on the proposed Tide Light Rail line extension towards Virginia Beach, Virginia, U.S., These stations, along with Witchduck Road was to open in late 2019 or early 2020, however, due to the 2016 Virginia Beach City referendum regarding light rail being a no-majority, work on light rail has been ceased as of December 2016. The station was to serve the Virginia Beach Town Center. The Town Center area had up to six possible locations, but after a 30% Preliminary Design study, narrowed them down to Kellam Road at the Western portion of the area and Constitution Drive at the Eastern end of the Town Center will be situated on former Norfolk Southern owned track which is now owned by the city. Eventual plans call for the light rail to be extended to the Oceanfront, however it is uncertain if light rail or even bus rapid transit will be constructed at this time.


Boggo Road railway station

Boggo Road railway station is a railway station currently under construction as part of the Cross River Rail project in the Brisbane suburb of Dutton Park.
To be built as an underground station, it will consist of two platforms with connections to Park Road station and Boggo Road busway station. Construction commenced in September 2019, with it scheduled to open in 2024.


Louis Moinet

Louis Moinet (1768–1853), inventor of the chronograph, was born into a prosperous family of farmers in Bourges, France, was a French horologist, sculptor and painter.
History.
During his studies, he quickly distinguished himself for his mastery of classical subjects, and he regularly took first place in academic competitions. While still a student, he was introduced to the world of watch making, and he spent almost all of his free time by the side of a master watchmaker. He was also privately tutored in drawing by an Italian painter.
At the age of twenty, Moinet hoped to move to Italy. Soon he left France for Rome, where he lived for five years studying architecture, sculpting, and painting. There he came into regular contact with members of the French Academy which brought together the most illustrious artists of the time. From Rome, he went on to Florence to perfect the artistic skills he had acquired. As a painter, his legacy includes a number of fine works.
Upon his return to Paris, he was made a Professor of Fine Arts at the Louvre. At this time, he also began his theoretical and practical studies of watch making, an art which he already loved most passionately. He reestablished contact with his former master watchmaker and, within less than ten years, the master was to find himself in the position of student to Moinet. Watch making soon engrossed all of Moinet's time and its tools brought him frequently to Switzerland where he spent extended periods of time.
He became President of the Chronometry Society of Paris, and a member of a number of learned and artistic societies. When Moinet met Abraham-Louis Breguet, the latter was already quite famous. Breguet recognised Moinet's worth at once, and the two men worked closely together. From 1811 on, Moinet became Breguet's personal adviser.
Abraham-Louis Breguet's son, Antoine-Louis, found it difficult to tolerate the presence of a man who spent far more time with his father than he himself could. When Breguet died in 1823, Moinet left the house on the Quai de l'Horloge to live elsewhere.
Among his many technical accomplishments, Moinet re-made a Ferdinand Berthoud regulator almost in its entirety. He also invented a counter that, even today, is unequalled. The same can be said for another regulator and an astronomical watch. In terms of watch making techniques, Moinet was a genius and he improved upon many existing methods.
According to records from an exposition of industry products, a Mr. Francoeur "recognised the usefulness of a new balance-cock which helped with rewinding. The idea belonged to Moinet". Moinet undertook to share his extensive knowledge of watch making and, in 1848, he published the Traité d'Horlogerie. Indispensable for anyone in the field, this volume is the most complete and most well written book on watch making in existence. It is also an everlasting monument to Moinet, establishing his talent and reputation for the years to come.
He sacrificed everything to art: his time, his fortune and his health. He spent most of his life creating, imbuing materials with a life of their own.
The work of Louis Moinet.
Louis Moinet's clocks and customers.
In the course of his career, Louis Moinet created some extraordinary clocks for such eminent figures of his era as Napoleon Bonaparte, Tsar Alexander Ist, American Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe, King George IV of the United Kingdom, King of Naples Marshal Murat, Marshal Ney, along with many crowned heads the length and breadth of Europe.
There are some extraordinary stories behind Louis Moinet's clocks, usually crafted in cooperation with the famous bronzier, Thomire:
Moinet's clocks are considered works of art as well as fine timepieces and are currently on display in such important Museums as the Louvre in Paris, the Château de Versailles, and the Palazzo Pitti in Florence.
The inventions of Louis Moinet.
As a maker of precision instruments, Louis Moinet perfected various techniques in these fields and developed several important new improvements. To enhance his astronomical observations, he invented a sensational instrument: a counter in the shape of a watch displaying 60ths of a second. The obvious advantage was a degree of superior to any other time measurement. One of its particularly original features was a jewelled escapement that oscillated at 216,000 vibrations per hour without any trace of wear nor increased friction during prolonged use.
"Traite d'horlogerie" by Louis Moinet.
Moinet is the author of the celebrated watchmaking encyclopaedia first published in 1848. This work consists of two volumes and describes the most sophisticated and ingenious horological techniques.
This masterpiece is enriched by many illustrations and technical drawings, hand-made by Moinet himself. Moinet worked for twenty years on writing this treatise, which became the reference work of the period.
"First published in 1848, this is one of the greatest horological works of the century and contains some of the most clear and concise descriptions of clock-making ever written"—Chamberlain.
"This book is the most comprehensive, the best written and the most indispensable of all the books that have been written on watchmaking."—Panthéon Biographique Universel, Paris, 1853.