Mines of Paris

The mines of Paris (in French carrières de Paris — "quarries of Paris") comprise a number of abandoned, subterranean mines under Paris, France, connected together by galleries. Three main networks exist; the largest, known as the "grand réseau sud" ("large south network"), lies under the 5th, 6th, 14th and 15th arrondissements, a second under the 13th arrondissement, and a third under the 16th, though other minor networks are found under the 12th, 14th and 16th for instance. The commercial product was Lutetian limestone for use as a building material, as well as gypsum for use in "plaster of Paris".
Exploring the mines is prohibited by the prefecture and penalised with large fines. Despite restrictions, Paris' former mines are frequently toured by urban explorers known popularly as cataphiles.
A limited part of the network has been used as an underground ossuary, known as the catacombs of Paris, some of which can be toured legally. (The catacombs were temporarily closed between September and 19 December 2009 due to vandalism, after which they could be legally visited again from the entrance on Place Denfert-Rochereau). The entire subterranean network is commonly but mistakenly referred to as "the catacombs".
Formation of the minerals mined in Paris.
Paris lies within the Paris Basin, a geological bowl-like shape created by millennia of sea immersion and erosion. Much of north-western France spent much of its geological history as a submerged sea water coastline, but towards our era, and the formation of our continents as we know them, the then relatively flat area that would become the Paris region became increasingly elevated. The region was alternately invaded and sculpted by both sea water, inland sea water lagoons and fresh water, in addition to above-water air and river erosion. These cycles produced a rich and varied geological strata containing many minerals that would become a source of growth and wealth for the Paris region.
Mineral formation.
The region of Paris has spent most of its geologic history under water, which is why it has such varied and important accumulations of sedimentary minerals, notably Lutetian Limestone.
The Paris area was a relatively flat sea-bottom during the early Cretaceous period: first in a deep-sea environment, then under a more agitated near-shoreline sea towards the end of the same period, Paris' largely silica-based sedimentary deposits became, under the action of pressure and the carbonic acid content of seawater, a thick deposit of clay. The invasion of calcium-rich seas then covered this with an even more important layer of chalk. Paris emerged from the sea towards the end of the Cretaceous Period, and later Palaeozoic-era continental shifts, particularly the Variscan orogeny geological upheavals, created a series of hills and valleys throughout the Parisian basin, creating conditions ideal for the mineral deposits that would appear during the next eras.
After a long period above sea level that ended towards the Cenozoic era, Paris began a period of alternation between sea and land environments. Paris was the middle of a shoreline of bays and lagoons of still seawater, an environment perfect for the silica-based sea life abundant then. As sea creatures died and settled to the lagoon bottom, their shells mixed with the deposits already present; pressure from additional sea-life sedimentation and the chemical action of the water transformed the result into a sedimentary stone quite particular to the Paris area, "calcaire grossier" ("calcaire lutécien" in more modern publications). Paris' most important deposits of this stone occurred during the Eocene epoch's Lutetian age; in fact, the age itself is named for the sedimentary activity in the Paris region, as Lutetia was the city's name during Roman times.
Paris' next important mineral deposit came with the Bartonian age. After a period of land-sea alternation that brought layers of sand and low-quality "calcaire grossier", the sea regressed again to return only occasionally to refill lagoons with seawater. The result was stagnating pools of evaporating seawater; the salts of these, mixed with other organic matter and mineral deposits, crystallised into the calcium sulphate composition that is gypsum. This evaporation cycle occurred several times during this age, creating several layers of gypsum divided by layers of mineral left by the sea's brief return. In all, Parisian gypsum deposits are divided into four "masses", with the last appearing, the "haute masse", being the most important and most exploited in Parisian history. Gypsum, an evaporite mineral, is known for its fragility against freshwater invasion, re-dissolving quite readily.
The sea returned one last time to the Parisian basin towards the end of the Paleogene period, leaving several layers of varied sediment capped with a thick layer of clay. This last deposit was important when the Paris basin rose from the sea, this time definitively, during the early Neogene, as the topmost layer would protect the soluble gypsum layers from erosion by air and weathering.
Erosion.
Paris began to take the form we know at present as huge rivers resulting from the melting of successive ice ages cut through millions of years of sediment, leaving only formations too elevated or too resistant to erosion. Paris' hills of Montmartre and Belleville are the only places where gypsum remained, as the ancestor of the river Seine once flowed, almost along its present path, as wide as half the city, with many arms and tributaries.
Mining techniques.
Open-air quarries.
The most primitive mining technique was to extract a mineral where it could be seen on the surface, in places where millennia of erosion by the ancestors of the Paris basin's rivers Seine, Marne and Bièvre exposed many levels of Paris' underlying stratification to open air. Minerals available from the surface, beginning with Paris' highest elevations in the valleys created by this erosion are: the plaster deposits in the upper reaches of the Right Bank hills of Montmartre and Belleville; lower in the valleys are sand and limestone deposits nearest the surface on Paris' Left Bank. The underlying clay strata were accessible from the surface in the lowest points of the Seine, Marne and Bièvre river valleys.
Underground mining.
Open-air quarrying became quite difficult and even costly when the desired minerals lay below the surface, as sometimes enormous amounts of earth and other unwanted deposits would have to be removed before it could be extracted. One means of avoiding this problem was to dig horizontally into a hillside along the mineral strata from where it was visible in its flank, but the Paris area had few mineral deposits, save gypsum, the disposition of which fulfilled these conditions. There were few open-air stone quarries by the 15th century; instead, miners would access the targeted stone deposit through vertical wells, and dig into it horizontally from there. Although it seems that well-mining method only began then, there is evidence that Romans used this technique to mine clay under Paris' Left Bank Montagne Sainte-Geneviève hill.
Piliers tournés.
No matter the means they used to access the underground mineral, miners had to provide a means of maintaining the enormous weight of the ceiling over their horizontally-burrowed excavations. The earliest means to this end, in a technique called "piliers tournés", became common from the late 10th century. A tunnel would be dug horizontally along the deposit, tunnels perpendicular to the first were opened along the way, and tunnels parallel to the initial tunnel would be opened through these. The result was a grid of columns of untouched mineral deposit, or "piliers tournés", that prevented a mine's collapse. In areas where a mineral was removed in a wider swath than the rest of the mine, usually towards the edge of the exploitation, miners would complement the natural mineral columns with "piliers à bras", or stacks of stone creating a supporting column between floor and ceiling.
Gypsum mines, the origin of the famous plaster of Paris, used this technique with an added third dimension: as some of northern Paris' gypsum deposits measured thick in some places, miners would create their tunnel grids in the top of the deposit, then begin extracting downwards. A gypsum mine in a particularly thick deposit had almost a cathedral-like air upon depletion, because of the towering columns and arches of mineral remaining. Only one example of this sort of gypsum-mining remains in Paris, in a renovated "grotto" under the Buttes-Chaumont gardens.
This method of burrowing was effective for the short-term, but over time the relatively soft mineral, subject to the elements and the earth's shifting, could erode or fissure, endangering the solidity of the mine.
Hagues et bourrages.
Another technique appearing towards the early 18th century, "hagues et bourrages", was both more economically and structurally sound. Instead of tunnelling into the exploitable mineral, miners would begin at a central point and extract stone progressively outwards; when they had mined to a point that left a wide area of the ceiling unsupported, they would erect a line of "piliers à bras", continue their extraction beyond that line, then return to build a second parallel line of stone columns. The space along both lines of columns was then transformed into walls with stone blocks, or "hagues", and the space between filled with packed rubble and other mineral detritus (or "bourrage"). This technique allowed much more of the targeted mineral to be extracted, and provided a support that could both settle and shift with the mine ceiling it supported.
Paris' Growth over abandoned mine sites.
There is no concrete proof of any mining activity before the late 13th century. The earliest known text is a brief mention in the town commerce register: Paris had 18 "quarriers" during 1292. The first written act concerning any mine dates from almost a century later, 1373, in an authorisation that a certain Dame Perrenelle be permitted to operate the plaster mine already existing in her property to the lower flank of Montmartre.
The majority of Paris' limestone deposits were in its Left Bank, and at the time of the city populace's 10th-century move to the Right Bank, were well in the suburbs of the former Roman/Merovingian city. As the stone from abandoned ruins became depleted during the 13th century, new mines began to open further from the city centre. Earlier mines closer to the city centre, when discovered, sometimes served a new purpose; when Louis XI donated the former Chateau Vauvert, a property which now forms the northern part of the Luxembourg Garden, to the Chartreuse order during 1259. The monks renovated the caverns under this property into wine cellars, and continued the exploitation of stone to the ancient mine's extremities.
By the early 16th century, there were stone excavations operating around the present Jardin des Plantes, Boulevard St-Marcel, Val-de-Grâce hospital, southern Luxembourg (by then the Chartreuse Coventry) and in areas around the rue Vaugirard. Paris' then suburban plaster mines remained for the most part in the Right Bank Montmartre and Belleville hills.
It was only with its expansion past its 13th-century walls (following almost exactly today's metro lines 6 and 2) that the city began to build on previously-mined land, which eventually resulted in many cave-ins and other disasters. The Left Bank faubourgs or suburbs were the most at risk: during the 15th century, the largest demographic expansions over mined land were the "faubourg Saint-Victor" (from the eastern extremity of the rue des Écoles and south down the rue Geoffroy St Hilaire); the faubourg St Marcel (rue Descartes, rue Mouffetard); the faubourg Saint-Jacques (along the present rue Saint-Jacques below the rue Soufflot), and the faubourg (then bourg) Saint-Germain-des-Prés to the south of the still-standing church of the same name.
Although the 17th-century Right Bank city of Paris had during five centuries expanded past three successive arcs of fortifications, Left Bank Paris was nowhere near as dense in comparison within its unchanged but crumbling 13th-century city walls. Many royal and ecclesiastical institutions came to the area during this period, but it seems that the mined state of the Paris faubourg underground had been forgotten by then. The Val de Grâce coventry and the Observatoire observatory, built from 1645 and 1672 respectively, were found to be undermined by immense caverns left by long-abandoned stone mines; reinforcing which consumed most of the budget reserved for both projects.
Growth of the faubourgs continued along the main routes from the city, but began to expand at a faster rate with the increase of traffic along the routes to the palaces of Fontainebleau and Versailles. The "route de Fontainebleau" (extending to the south of the present Place Denfert-Rochereau), then called Rue d'Enfer and now named Avenue Denfert-Rochereau, would be the site of one of Paris' first major mine collapses during December 1774, when about 30 metres (100 feet) of the street collapsed to a depth of about thirty metres (a hundred feet).
Abandoned mine consolidation.
The 1774 disaster was partly responsible for the Conseil du Roi's decision to create a special division of architects responsible for the inspection, maintenance, and repair of the ground under royal buildings within and around Paris. Another division of inspectors created about the same time, but directed by the Ministry of Finance, claimed the role of assuring the safety of the national roadways that were their jurisdiction. Created officially on 24 April 1777, the "Inspection générale des carrières" (IGC) entered service on the same eve after a new collapse of the route de Fontainebleau (Avenue Denfert-Rochereau) outside of the "barrière d'Enfer" city gateway. Although the Ministry of Finance continued to claim jurisdiction of damaged roadways, this rather inept service was eventually succeeded by the Crown-appointed IGC.
As the centuries of mining under Paris' underground were mostly uncharted and thus largely forgotten, the real extent of former mines was unknown then. All important buildings and roadways were inspected, any signs of shifting were noted, and the ground underneath was sounded for cavities. Roadways were particularly problematic; instead of sounding the ground around the route, inspectors instead tunneled directly under the length of endangered roadway, filling any cavities they found along the way, and reinforcing the walls of their tunnels with solid masonry to eliminate the possibility of any future excavations and disasters. When a length of roadway was consolidated, the date of the work was engraved in the tunnel wall under it, next to the name of the roadway above; Paris' tunnel renovations, dating to as early as 1777, are now still a testimony to Paris' old street names and roadways.
Re-use of abandoned mines as a municipal ossuary.
During the 18th century, the growing population of Paris resulted in the filling of existing cemeteries, causing public health concerns. Towards the end of the 18th century, it was decided to create three new large cemeteries and to relocate the existing cemeteries within the city limits. Human remains were progressively moved to a renovated section of the abandoned mines that would eventually become a full-fledged ossuary whose entrance is located on present day "Place Denfert-Rochereau".
The ossuary became a tourist attraction on a small scale from the early 19th century, and has been open to the public on a regular basis from 1867. Although it is officially named the "Ossuaire Municipal", it is known popularly as "the catacombs". Though the entire subterranean network of Paris' mines is not a burial place as such, the term "Catacombs of Paris" is also used commonly to refer to the whole.


Gusevogorskoye mine

The Gusevogorskoye mine is a large iron mine located in central-western Russia in the Sverdlovsk Oblast. Gusevogorskoye represents one of the largest iron ore reserves in Russia and in the world having estimated reserves of 2 billion tonnes of ore grading 15.8% iron metal.


Liublinskaya mine

The Liublinskaya mine is a large mine located in the south of Russia in Novosibirsk Oblast. Liublinskaya represents the largest bentonite reserve in Russia having estimated reserves of 20.4 million tonnes.


Rusal

United Company RUSAL, international public joint-stock company () is the world's second largest aluminium company by primary production output (as of 2016). It was the largest until overtaken by China Hongqiao Group in 2015. UC RUSAL accounts for almost 9% of the world's primary aluminium output and 9% of the world's alumina production.
The United Company was formed by the merger of RUSAL (Russkiy alyuminiy) (), SUAL, and the alumina assets of Glencore, completed in March 2007. According to its own statistics, UC Rusal accounts for 6.2% of the world's primary aluminium output and 6.5% of the world's alumina production, while operating assets in 13 countries over five continents, employing over 61,000 people across its international operations and offices.
The company is incorporated in Jersey, where it has its financial centre, but its headquarters are in Moscow, Russian Federation. UC Rusal is a public limited company and its shares are traded on the Moscow Stock Exchange, Hong Kong Stock Exchange and European Stock Exchange. Since 25 September 2020, the company changed its place of registration from Jersey to Kaliningrad, Russia.
Company history.
RUSAL has played a decisive role in the consolidation of the Russian aluminium industry during its establishment as a large, vertically integrated aluminium holding.
Predecessor companies 1991 – 2000.
UC Rusal's roots lie in the business activities of Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska, who entered the metals industry as a commodities agent and broker at the Moscow Trade Stock Exchange (Moskovskaya Tovarnaya Birzha (MTB)) and then at the Russian Commodities and Raw Materials Exchange (Rossiyskaya Tovarno-Syryevaya Birzha (RTSB)). As a broker, Deripaska dealt in a wide range of commodities, including aluminium. His work also included trading with major Russian aluminium smelters.
Between 1991 and 1994, companies set up by Mr. Deripaska with the backing of industrialist and entrepreneur Michael Cherney, started investing in the shares of Sayanogorsk Aluminum Smelter (SAZ), one of the newest and most modern aluminium plants built in Soviet times (1980–1985). In 1994, Mr. Deripaska was elected the General Director of SAZ.
In 1997, the companies controlled by Deripaska underwent a general restructuring, leading to the creation of Sibirsky Aluminium to manage aluminium and alumina assets acquired by Deripaska's companies. By 2000, Sibirsky Aluminium managed, among other aluminium-related assets, majority interests in the Sayanogorsk aluminium smelter, the Sayanal foil mill, a fabricating plant in Samara, Russia, and a minority interest in the Nikolaev alumina refinery in Ukraine.
Founding of Rusal and company expansion 2000 – 2007.
Gradual strategic acquisitions and growth projects eventually led to the creation of one of the world's largest aluminium and alumina producers. Rusal has historically opted to fully integrate its assets under centralized operational and management control. The company has achieved increased production and efficiency in most of its acquired facilities through production "creep" (improvements achieved through targeted improvements to key processes), as well as by undertaking key modernization and expansion projects.
Rusal was founded in 2000 after Sibirsky Aluminium and Millhouse Capital, owned by Roman Abramovich, agreed to merge their aluminium and alumina assets.
By 2002, Sibirsky Aluminium and Millhouse Capital were managing controlling stakes in the Armenal foil mill in Armenia and the Belaya Kalitva metallurgical plant and in Russia, and also took under management the Friguia bauxite and alumina complex and Bauxite of Kindia Company in Guinea to secure bauxite and alumina supply for its Russian smelters. In 2002, Rusal also set up the Engineering and Technology Center in Krasnoyarsk, which is now the foundation of the company's internal R&D projects.
In 2003, Millhouse Capital sold its 50% stake in Rusal to Basic Element, which held the remaining half of the shares and belongs to Deripaska. In the Ukraine, RUSAL increased its share in the Nikolaev alumina refinery to 98%.
In 2004, Rusal made the strategic decision to focus on its upstream business and began disposing of its downstream assets, including the sale of its fabricating division to Alcoa in January 2005. The divestiture process was largely completed in 2006 with the distribution of certain aluminium construction plants and other non-core assets to companies controlled by RUSAL's beneficial owner. In 2004, Rusal obtained a licence to develop bauxite mines in Guyana and the Bauxite Company of Guyana was subsequently founded.
From 2004 to 2006, RUSAL acquired several strategically important assets around the globe. In 2004, RUSAL acquired a 90% interest in the Boxitogorsk alumina refinery in Russia and increased its holding in the Nikolaev alumina refinery to 100%.
In 2005, RUSAL bought a 50% stake in the Komi alumina project from SUAL and became its partner in the project, which involved the construction of an integrated bauxite and alumina complex in Russia's Komi Republic.
Also in 2005, RUSAL completed the acquisition of a 20% equity interest in one of the world's largest alumina refineries in terms of production capacity, Queensland Alumina Limited, located in Queensland, Australia.
Furthermore, RUSAL purchased assets of a cathode plant in Lingshi County of Shanxi Province, China. In April 2008, the company acquired assets of another cathode plant in Taigu County of Shanxi Province, China, which have been integrated into the existing cathode plant in Lingshi.
In 2006, RUSAL acquired assets of the state-owned Aroaima Mining Company in Guyana, acquired the remaining equity interest in the Friguia bauxite and alumina complex in Guinea, completed an extensive retrofit of the Armenal foil mill and commissioned the Khakas aluminium smelter in Russia, one of the most advanced aluminium production facilities in the world. RUSAL also acquired a 56.16% equity interest in the Sardinian alumina refinery, Eurallumina.
In May 2006, RUSAL and RusHydro signed a co-operation agreement for the construction of the Boguchanskaya hydropower station (HPP) and the Boguchansky aluminium smelter. RUSAL increased ownership in the Bratsk, Krasnoyarsk, Sayanogorsk, and Novokuznetsk aluminium smelters, the Achinsk and Boksitogorsk alumina refineries and the Russian National Aluminium and Magnesium Institute (VAMI) to 100% in November 2006, and in Sayanal in June 2007.
In order to stay competitive, the VAMI and SibVAMI aluminium and magnesium research institutes became the backbone for engineering and technology centres involved in the development of new unique production technologies including RA-300 and RA-400 reduction cells for RUSAL. The new technologies allowed for large-scale greenfield and brownfield projects. In 2005, RUSAL created its own engineering and construction subsidiary, Rusal-Engineering Development Limited, responsible for modernization and construction projects.
In December 2006, RUSAL acquired through a privatisation process a 77.5% equity interest in the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON). The Group acquired a further 7.5% equity interest in ALSCON from MAN Ferrostaal AG in January 2008.
UC Rusal.
In late March 2007, the merger between RUSAL, its domestic competitor SUAL, as well as the bauxite and alumina assets of Swiss commodities trading group Glencore, created UC RUSAL. The merger created the world's largest aluminium company at the time, with assets in 17 countries across five continents, including 16 aluminium smelters, 12 alumina refineries, eight bauxite mines, three powder metallurgy plants, three silicon smelters, three secondary aluminium plants, three aluminium foil mills, two cryolite plants, and one cathode plant. The merger was completed in March 2007, at which time the newly formed company was estimated to have pro-forma sales of $12 billion and production capacity of about four million tonnes of aluminium and 11 million tonnes of alumina. The move completed the 15-year process of consolidating the Russian aluminium industry.
Company consolidation and expansion projects.
In November 2007, RUSAL signed a cooperation agreement with Samruk-Energo, a subsidiary of Samruk-Kazyna, on the creation of a 50/50 joint venture to operate the Bogatyr Komir LLP, the largest coal mining company in Kazakhstan.
In April 2008, it acquired a 25% plus one share equity interest of Norilsk Nickel from Onexim, the world's largest nickel and palladium producer.
Because of a string of mergers and acquisitions, particularly that of Norilsk Nickel, UC Rusal had a high level of debt, which was exacerbated by the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008. In order to be able to retain its stake in Norilsk Nickel, and to avoid having to float the stake to foreign lenders, UC Rusal received a $4.5 billion loan from Russian state bank VEB to repay debts to foreign creditors. As part of its debt consolidation efforts in 2009, UC Rusal reduced the costs of its operations by 25%. In December 2009, a final agreement between the company and 72 Russian and international lenders to refinance $17 billion of debt were reached.
In January 2009, Oleg Deripaska was appointed Rusal's CEO, replacing Alexander Bulygin, who had held the post for 3 years.
In January 2010, UC RUSAL was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with its IPO price of HK$10.8 per share and capital raising of US$2.2 billion. The IPO attracted investors such as Nathaniel Rothschild, Robert Kuok, Paulson & Co, John Paulson and Vneshekonombank. Rusal also trades global depostory receipts on the NYSE Euronext in Paris.
August 2011 saw Rusal reach an agreement with Sberbank to extend the maturity of debts until 2016, thereby cancelling VEB's loan used to repay debts to lenders.
In October 2011, UC Rusal announced that it had completed all debt refinancing of outstanding payments worth $11.4 billion. As a result, the company was freed from all investment and dividend payment restrictions, and announced new investments into the modernisation of old smelters and construction of new smelters in Siberia.
With Chinese aluminium demand growing due to rapid urbanization and industrialization, UC Rusal signed a joint venture agreement with China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO) in April 2012. Rusal also signed a memorandum of understanding with one of its main competitors, Shandong Xinfa Group, pertaining to the study of future potential cooperation areas, such as joint ventures.
March 2014 saw UC Rusal enter into a 50/50 share joint venture with Israeli automotive component manufacturer Omen High Pressure Die Casting to produce automotive components.
Resulting from massive overcapacity in the aluminium market due to China increasing its output of primary aluminium, global aluminium prices fell in the years 2007 to 2013, leading Rusal to report a loss of US$3.2bn in 2014. The company asked creditors to agree to delay payments on part of its US$10bn net debt pile. In August that year, national and international lenders agreed to allow the restructuring of its debt.
In November 2014, Vladislav Solovyov was appointed as Rusal's CEO, while Deripaska assumed the role of company president.
In 2016, UC Rusal signed another joint venture agreement with a Chinese firm, Hebei Joy Sense Cable Co. (HJSC), to produce aluminium cable for electrical applications.
In 2017, Rusal issued two Eurobonds to finance its debts. The first one, worth US$600 million, was issued in February, followed by a second one in April, worth US$500 million. Also in February, plans were announced to sell 10 billion yuan worth of seven-year onshore bonds to finance purchases in China, making Rusal the first foreign company to offer panda bonds on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The company also agreed on a pre-export finance mechanism with international lenders worth US$1.7 billion for debt refinancing.
In April 2017, Rusal signed a joint venture with Indian firm Runaya Metsource for producing aluminum paste and powder, with commercial activities set to commence in 2018.
Company structure and activities.
As of 2016, UC Rusal's biggest shareholders are En+ Group with a controlling stake of 48.13%, along with Onexim Group (13.7%) and SUAL (15,80%). 8.75% is owned by Amokenga Holdings, Toni Shterev owns 00.1% of the shares Rusal.a wholly owned subsidiary of Glencore. The remaining 13.37% account for the public float, and shareholding by the company management (0.25%).
It was announced on 11 August that Onexim agreed to sell 7% of its Rusal stake to SUAL. In February, Onexim had already sold 3.3% to SUAL. Once the sale is approved, Onexim will retain a 6.7% stake in Rusal, while SUAL's will increase to 22.80%.
Operations.
As of the end of 2016, UC Rusal owned 12 aluminium smelters, 10 alumina refineries, 7 bauxite mines worldwide, and 4 domestic foil rolling mills.
"Smelters".
Russia.
Rusal owns and operates six aluminium smelters, two alumina refineries and two foil rolling mills in Russia:
2018 U.S. sanctions.
In April 2018, the United States imposed sanctions against Oleg Deripaska and his business enterprises, including Rusal, along with 23 other Russian nationals and entities in their control. According to "Reuters", these sanctions were imposed "to punish Moscow for its alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and other 'malign activity.'" The United States Department of the Treasury issued a statement declaring that Deripaska was accused of illegal wiretapping, threatening the lives of business rivals, extortion and racketeering. Other allegations included that Deripaska ordered the murder of a businessman, and had links to a Russian organized crime group. On 23 April, however, the US government gave subsidiary Rusal America Corporation's customers "more time to comply with sanctions", even saying it would "consider lifting them if United Company Rusal Plc’s major shareholder, Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, ceded control of the company." Department of the Treasury gave these clients until 23 October 2018 to comply with (wind down business) the Rusal sanctions.
In May 2018, the company announced the resignation of CEO Alexandra Bouriko and seven board members in order to avoid U.S. sanctions against Oleg Deripaska.
In January 2019, the U.S. lifted sanctions after Deripaska reduced his stake in the company to less that 50% and his voting rights to less than 35%. US Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell among others argued that this would maintain pressure on Deripaska without disrupting aluminum markets. In April 2019 the company announced a project in Ashland, Kentucky that would produce flat-rolled aluminum products for the US automotive industry.
Sustainability.
In 2017, UC Rusal publicly stated its goal to cover all the energy required to power its aluminium smelters via clean energy by 2020, particularly using hydropower. In 2017, the company's energy mix included 90% renewables. The announcement was in line with UC Rusal's 2015 pledge to support the sustainable production of aluminium upon joining the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative.
As a response to increased demand for sustainably produced aluminium from major downstream industries – particularly the motor, packaging and electronics sectors – Rusal introduced Allow, a low-carbon aluminium brand, in November 2017. According to Reuters, Allow covers roughly 80% of Rusal's total output.
In 2017, Deripaska expressed support for introducing steep carbon taxation in order to force other firms away from using coal power and reduce the industry's carbon footprint.
Corporate social responsibility.
2011 Japan earthquake.
Following the 2011 Toho earthquake and tsunami, UC Rusal donated $600,000 to Japanese children's and cultural heritage foundations. These included the Ashinaga Foundation providing financial and educational support to children; the Yul Foundation supporting the learning process and psychological rehabilitation of pupils; and donations to the Ishinomori Mangattan Museum in Miyagi Prefecture for the city's reconstruction of cultural attractions.
2012 Cholera outbreak in Sierra Leone.
In 2012, Rusal donated 25 tonnes of medical supplies to Sierra Leone to control the outbreak of cholera in the country as part of its commitment to corporate social responsibility.
2013 Nigeria fresh water projects.
In 2013, Rusal, in cooperation with Alscon, commissioned the construction of 14 fresh water facilities in Nigeria so as to provide potable water to more than 10,000 people in the Ikot Abasi region.
2014 Ebola outbreak.
During the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, UC Rusal provided logistical support to the international relief efforts. In 2015, the company invested $10 million to build the "Centre for epidemic and microbiological research and treatment" in Guinea to fight the spread of the virus. It also donated medication, as well as sanitary equipment to the Guinean Health Ministry, and was involved in setting up a mobile hospital containing 200 beds. Field trials for a Russian Ebola vaccine were carried out at the centre, and the vaccine was officially launched in August 2017 in Kindia, where the centre is located.


South Yorkshire Coalfield

The South Yorkshire Coalfield is so named from its position within Yorkshire. It covers most of South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and a small part of North Yorkshire. The exposed coalfield outcrops in the Pennine foothills and dips under Permian rocks in the east. Its most famous coal seam is the Barnsley Bed. Coal has been mined from shallow seams and outcrops since medieval times and possibly earlier.
Geography and geology.
The coalfield stretches from Halifax in the north west, to the north of Bradford and Leeds in the north east, Huddersfield and Sheffield in the west, and Doncaster in the east. The major towns of Wakefield, Barnsley and Rotherham are within its boundaries. It is part of the larger Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire Coalfield. Its western boundary is defined by the outcropping of coal seams in the foothills of the Pennines and in the east by the descent of the coal-bearing strata under overlying rocks as they approach the North Sea. Since the creation of the county of South Yorkshire in 1974, the name can be misleading as the coalfield stretches beyond the Wakefield district and other parts of West Yorkshire as far as Keighley and Kellingley Colliery and the Selby Coalfield are in North Yorkshire. It is separate from the Ingleton Coalfield in North Yorkshire, and a small number of mines around Todmorden are part of the Lancashire Coalfield.
The coal bearing rock strata or coal measures that make up the coalfield outcrop in the foothills of the Pennines and dip gently downwards from west to east. This area is known as the exposed coalfield. The coal measures are carboniferous rocks laid down between 290 and 354 million years ago. West and east of Doncaster the coal measures are overlain by younger rocks, permian limestone, where the area is referred to as the concealed coal field.
The northernmost extent of the South Yorkshire Coalfield is marked by the change of its richest and highest grade coal seam, the Barnsley Seam or Bed, to a thin seam of inferior coal which occurs to the north of Barnsley. The southern limit was marked by the Barnsley Bed losing its coking qualities.
The structure of the coal field is not significantly affected by faults except along the River Don between Sheffield and Mexborough. These faults give rise to the Frickley and Maltby troughs where the coal measures are thrown down and lie deeper than in other parts of the coalfield.
Coal type and seams.
The coal found in the South Yorkshire Coalfield was a bituminous coal that was generally used for the production of coal gas and coke. The coke was then used for iron and steel manufacture. Some seams produced coal suitable for raising steam, i.e. it had a low ash and sulphur content. Finally other seams produced coal for household use.
The most famous seam in the South Yorkshire Coalfield was the Barnsley seam or bed. This seam which was up to 3 metres thick in places provided a significant amount of the coal produced by the coal field. The Barnsley seam coal properties varied through the depth of the seam. The top of the seam was a soft bright coal, the middle section known as the "hards" was a dull hard high quality coal suitable for raising steam. The bottoms was another band of bright soft coal called "bottom softs".
Other famous seams include the Parkgate seam that produced mainly gas coal, the Silkstone seam which produced coal suitable for many purposes and the Swallow Wood seam that produced household and gas coal.
History of the development of the coalfield.
Pre-19th century.
There is evidence of coal mining in the field as far back Roman period. Documentary evidence of medieval mining around Barnsley, Rotherham and Sheffield dates back to the 14th century. An example of this is permission granted by Sir John Fitzwilliam in 1367 for mining to take place on his estate near Elsecar south of Barnsley. These mines were shallow shafts or adits that exploited the coal seams where they outcropped. The coal would have been used locally as a heating fuel or in the production of iron. This small scale mining persisted well into the late 1780s when the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam's colliery at Lawwood had only 19 "picks" or miners. The reason for the delay in development when compared to the coalfields of Northumberland and County Durham was that the area had poor access to water transport which was the only economic method of transport before the development of the railways.
The first area of the coalfield to gain access to improved transportation was the southern edge when the River Don Navigation was canalised as far as Tinsley near Sheffield by 1740. This allowed the collieries near Rotherham to export their coal east to the English coast and beyond and west Sheffield. By 1769 300,000 tons of coal were exported from the southern area of the coalfield. The colliery owners to the south in Derbyshire cut the Chesterfield Canal from Chesterfield to join with the River Trent near Gainsborough in 1777 which allowed them to compete directly with the South Yorkshire Coalfield. This in turn forced the colliery owners in Southern Yorkshire to improve their access to the sea. They planned a canal running from Wakefield south through Barnsley to the River Don at Swinton east of Rotherham. The canal called the Dearne & Dove Canal was started in 1793 and completed in 1796. The canal with branches to Elsecar and Worsborough allowed collieries through the coal field to be expanded. This can be seen with sinking of the Elsecar New Colliery by the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam.
The 19th century.
The coal trade in the early 19th century suffered several periods of recession but as the British railway system expanded during the 1840s & 1850s the market for coal increased markedly and transport of the coal using the railways improved distribution of the coal further boosting the trade. This increase in demand drove colliery owners to move further eastwards away from the shallow coal seams sinking deeper shafts as the Barnsley seam, which was their main target dipped downwards.
During this period the coalfield suffered a series of fatal explosions as the available mine ventilation techniques were unable to safely deal with large quantity of methane or firedamp produced by the Barnsley seam in the deeper and larger mines being sunk. The contemporary colliery ventilation techniques were often poorly applied and even in collieries where the ventilation was well engineered the technique had a significant flaw. The flow of air was controlled by 'traps' or doors opened and closed by children when the tubs of coal passed. The children, being children, did not always close the doors when they should, resulting in explosives gases building up in the working parts of the colliery often with fatal consequences.
Some notable explosions are detailed further in the article.
The latter half of the 19th century was marked by further expansion eastwards. The opening of these collieries was possible as improved understanding of the geology of the coalfield allowed mining engineers to be more confident about the sinking collieries in previously un-mined parts of the coalfield. Improvements in drilling techniques allowed deeper bore holes to be sunk so the engineers had a better understanding of the coal deposits and this gave confidence to the speculators as to possible returns. The costs required in the deeper pits required more coal to guarantee a suitable return, therefore mines were set up in rural areas where large royalties could be negotiated with little in the way of buildings on the land to minimise the amount of coal that had to be left to prevent subsidence. The lack of population in these areas meant that the colliery owners had to provide accommodation in the form of pit villages and the quality of this varied considerably between collieries.
Early 20th century.
At the turn of the 20th century many of the collieries on the exposed coalfield had exhausted the Barnsley seam in their royalty and rather than abandon their investment and experienced workforces many owners sank deeper shafts to exploit the seams that lay beneath the exhausted Barnsley seam such as the Parkgate and Swallow wood seams. Some examples of this include Cortonwood, Manvers Main and Elsecar Main At this time the first collieries on the concealed coalfield were opened such as Bentley & Brodsworth Main. These new collieries suffered many problems during the sinking of their shafts through wet sandstone and quicksand. It was during 1929 as these deeper pits sunk in the early years of the 20th century came into full production that the South Yorkshire Coalfield produced its record amount of coal 33.5 m tons, 13% of Britain's coal output that year.
The early part of the century was marked by increasing competition in foreign markets for the coal and as a result some mines were amalgamated to reduce costs and improve competitiveness. Outside the coalfield technology changes also reduced the size of markets as ships moved increasingly to oil as their primary fuel source, and train routes were electrified. Despite the amalgamations the industry was still seen as inefficient and to promote more efficient development of what was still a vital resource the Government in 1938 nationalised the coal reserves. During the Second World War, to ensure production levels were met, conscript labour redirected from the armed forces, the Bevin Boys, was used in the collieries.
Postwar.
The British coal mining industry was nationalised in 1947. Whilst this was done, in the words of the Labour Party Constitution, "To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service" as part of a wider process of nationalisation it did allow the coalfield to be modernised and streamlined in a way that had not been achieved in the previous decades. The National Coal Board management in the 40 years following nationalisation, closed inefficient and worked out collieries, amalgamated and combined other collieries to form larger production units where significant assets such as skip winders and coal washing and grading facilities could be used by several collieries and opened new drift mines which could be fitted with the latest equipment. The results of these actions carried out against a backdrop of a volatile and declining market was that by the time the collieries of South Yorkshire were sold to private owners in the mid nineties the coal they produced was some of the cheapest in the developed world.
Post-privatisation.
Post privatisation pits continued to close as the market for coal in the United Kingdom contracted with the development of gas-fired power station in the Dash for Gas and the continued use of cheap coal imports in the electricity generating business. By January 2015 only two coal mines were still working, Kellingley and Hatfield Main, although some shafts remain in use as pumping stations to reduce pollution from the abandoned workings. On 18 December 2015, miners at Kellingley worked their final shift, marking the end of Great Britain's deep coal mining industry.
Labour relations.
There has been conflict between the mine owners and the miners for more than 200 years. A strike by miners in 1792 for higher wages at the Duke of Norfolk's collieries near Sheffield is an early example.
During the 19th century a variety of unions or associations such as the Mining Association of Great Britain & Ireland, the Miners National Union and the Miners Federation of Great Britain were formed to campaign for improved wages and better working conditions. They were largely unsuccessful. Two large scale strikes took place in 1844 and 1893. The strike in 1893 was the result of a 25% wage cut by the mine owners which was eventually restored but not before two miners were killed by soldiers at Featherstone.
The 20th century brought further strikes in 1912, 1921 and the General Strike in 1926. These all generally failed to bring about any improvement in pay and conditions.
Following nationalisation in 1947 working conditions improved but pay fell behind national averages. Successful strikes in the early 1970s resulted in wage improvements but as the market for UK coal declined and collieries closed, tension between the miners and the government increased and in 1984 a large scale strike started. The colliery closure that started the strike was at Cortonwood in South Yorkshire. The strike's aim to preserve miners' jobs was not met as colliery closures continued. (A small mine in Scissett, Hay Royds Colliery, was not nationalised. It closed in 2013.)
Mining disasters.
The South Yorkshire Coalfield has suffered some the worst mining disasters in Great Britain and the largest disaster in terms of fatalities in England. Some notable disasters either for their effect outside the region or scale:


Afrimines Resources

Afrimines Resources is a company based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that has precious metal mining rights in various deposits. One is a area within the Kilo Moto area of the northeastern provinces of Haut-Uélé and Ituri.
The company was established in 2003.
In May 2008 the Australian-based Tiger Resources announced that it had secured the right to a 60% interest in four permits for exploration covering about in the copper and cobalt "“Roan Sequence" in Katanga Province. Afrimines would hold 20% and Katanga Minerals Holdings would hold 20%. Development costs were to be 90% covered by Tiger Resources and 10% by Afrimines.
On 1 December 2010 the Australian Erongo Energy announced it had agreed to purchase a 70% interest from Afrimines Resources in a group of nine tenements covering in the Maniema Province.
The tenements are in the same geological zone as Banro Corporation's gold mines.
In April 2011 Regal Resources of Australia announced that it had acquired a 70% interest from Afrimines in a group of gold-bearing properties in South Kivu. The properties were located between two gold discoveries by Banro Corporation.
The properties had extensive alluvial workings by artisanal miners.


Harry Lane Englebright

Harry Lane Englebright (January 2, 1884 – May 13, 1943) was a U.S. political figure. He served as a Congressman from California's 2nd congressional district from 1926 to 1943, and as the House Minority Whip between 1933 and 1943.
Englebright was born in Nevada City, California. His father, William F. Englebright was a politician who served in the United States House of Representatives. Harry Englebright attended the University of California, Berkeley and became a mining engineer before entering politics, connected with various mining enterprises in California and was an engineer for the State Conservation Commission from 1911 to 1914.
Englebright was elected to the United States House of Representatives in a special election in 1926, following the death of congressman John E. Raker. His district was located in the far north of California, north of Sacramento. He was a Republican. He was elected to a full term later in 1926 and was re-elected until his death in 1943, passing away in Bethesda, Maryland.
Englebright Lake in Northern California is named for him.


Yanzhou Coal Mining Company

Yanzhou Coal Mining Company (), majority owned by Yankuang Group, is a coal mining company in Mainland China. It is engaged in underground mining coal preparation and sales, and railway transportation service of coal. Its products are mainly low-sulphur coal which is suitable for large-scale power plant and for use in pulverized coal injection.
Corporate governance.
Its headquarters is located in Zoucheng, Jining, Shandong. Its chairman is Mr. Zhang Xinwen. The company's parent and ultimate holding company is Yankuang Group Corporation Limited (the Parent Company).
Businesses.
Yanzhou Coal is principally engaged in underground coal mining, preparation and processing, sales, and railway transportation of coal. The company is organized into three operating divisions: coal mining, coal railway transportation and methanol and electrical power.
The coal mining segment is engaged in the underground mining, preparation and sales of coal. The coal railway transportation segment is engaged in the provision of railway transportation services. The methanol and electricity power segment is engaged in the production and sales of methanol and electrical power.
The company operates six coal mines: Xinglongzhuang coal mine, Baodian coal mine, Nantun coal mine, Dongtan coal mine, Jining II coal mine (Jining II) and Jining III coal mine (Jining III), as well as a regional rail network that links these mines with the national rail network.
Subsidiaries.
Yanzhou Coal's subsidiaries include Austar Coal Mine Pty, Limited, Heze, Felix Resources, Yancoal Australia Pty, Limited, Shandong Yanmei Shipping Co., Ltd., Yanzhou Coal Yulin Power Chemical Co., Ltd., Zhongyan Trade Co., Ltd, Shanxi Neng Hua, Shanxi Tianchi and Shanxi Tianhao. During the year ended December 31, 2008, the Company sold 37.56 million tons of salable coal. The customers of Yanzhou Coal are mainly located in Eastern China, Southern China and the East Asia such as Japan and South Korea.


Cananea mine

The Cananea mine is a large copper mine located in the north-west of Mexico in Sonora. Cananea represents one of the largest copper reserves in Mexico and in the world, having estimated reserves of 4.52 billion tonnes of ore with a grade of 0.42% copper. Place of Cananea strike in 1906.


Robert Milligan (footballer)

Robert Milligan (1892 – 25 September 1915) was a Scottish amateur footballer who played in the Scottish Football League for Clyde.
Personal life.
Milligan worked at Douglas Park Colliery near Bellshill. After the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Milligan enlisted as a private in the Seaforth Highlanders. He was killed in action during the Battle of Loos on 25 September 1915. He was commemorated on the Loos Memorial.


W. Frank Stewart

Wellington Frank Stewart, also known as W. Frank Stewart (dates and places of birth and death missing), was a silver mining operator in Storey County in western Nevada, who served as a Democrat in the Nevada State Senate from 1876 to 1880.
In 1969, the actor Dick Simmons was cast as Stewart in the episode "How to Beat a Badman" of the syndicated television series "Death Valley Days", based on true stories of the American West. In the story line, Stewart is determined to gain at a bargain price a silver claim being worked by two young former outlaws, Johnny McDonald and Jack Small, played by Tom Heaton and Scott Graham, respectively, who are trying to put their past behind them. Donna Baccala plays McDonald's fiancé, a cafe cook, who tries to keep him within the law.


Eti Mine Works

Eti Mine Works ( Genel Müdürlüğü) is a Turkish state-owned mining and chemicals company focusing on boron products. It holds a government monopoly on the mining of borate minerals in Turkey, which possesses 72% of the world's known deposits. In 2012, it held a 47% share of global production of borate minerals, ahead of its main competitor, Rio Tinto Group, which held 23%.
In 2012, it was the forty-first largest industrial company in Turkey, with an annual revenue of $850 million.
It was founded in 1935 as Etibank, a bank created to finance Turkish natural resource extraction; in 1993, the company's banking activities were privatized and its mining activities separated under the name Eti Holding A.Ş. In 2004, the company was restructured again and named Eti Mine Works.
Its subsidiaries include AB Etiproducts OY, a Finland-based company which distributes Eti Mine Works products in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Russia, Central Asia, and Africa. Bandırma Borax owns one of the small coal-fired power stations in Turkey.
Ab Etiproducts Oy.
In 1982, Ab Etiproducts Oy was established by Finnish mining multimetal Outokumpu group and Etibank. In 1993 Outokumpu's share was transferred to Etimine SA, sister company of Ab Etiproducts Oy, responsible for the marketing of Turkish boron products in western Europe. In 2005, Ab Etiproducts Oy established a subsidiary company Etiproducts Llc, in Russia.
The company presently operates in Scandinavia (Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Norway), the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Poland, Russia, Kazakhstan and other CIS countries.
Stock is located in the Baltic and Black Sea Region regions. The subsidiary company Etiproducts Llc has stockplace in Azov, Russia. Ab Etiproducts Oy controls international sales and distribution of boron products in Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Estonia, Kazakhstan and other CIS countries.
Products.
Boron minerals and refined products include:
Concentrated boron products include:


Harry Jones (politician)

Harry Jones (September 29, 1840 – February 23, 1936) was a Welsh-born prospector and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Cariboo from 1903 to 1909 as a Liberal.
Born in Bryn Engan, Llangybi, Carnarvon in 1840, he arrived in British Columbia in June 1862, sailing by way of Cape Horn. Jones travelled on foot to the Cariboo country, settling at Lytton. He returned to Wales in 1876 and came back to North America in 1884. He again lived in the Cariboo region until ill health forced him to move to Vancouver in 1933. Jones was an unsuccessful candidate for a seat in the provincial assembly in 1900. He was elected in 1903 and reelected in 1907, but was defeated when he ran for reelection to the assembly in 1909. Jones died in 1936 at the Glen Hospital in Vancouver at the age of 95.


Hongtoushan mine

The Hongtoushan mine is one of the largest zinc mines in China. The mine is located in Fushun, Liaoning province, China. The mine has reserves amounting to 22.6 million tonnes of ore grading 3.04% zinc thus resulting 0.69 million tonnes of zinc.


List of trade unions in the Singareni coal fields

A list of trade unions active in the Singareni coal fields, in telangana, India. Political affiliation of the union within brackets.
Results from the 2004 Singareni Collieries Company Limited union polls:
The INTUC-affiliated SCMLU won representation with the corporation. The term is four years.


Black Butte, Oregon

Black Butte was an unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon, United States. It was located near Black Butte, a dark-colored mountain at the headwaters of the Coast Fork Willamette River, about 20 miles south of Cottage Grove, at the confluence of Garoutte Creek and the Little River. The Black Butte Mine, which operated from the 1890s to the 1960s, was one of the largest mercury mines in the state. Mercury contamination from abandoned mine tailings continues to be a health concern in the area, including mercury-contaminated runoff from Furnace Creek that has made its way to Cottage Grove Lake.
The post office at Black Butte was originally named Harris, after William Harris, the first postmaster. Harris post office was established in 1898, and the name changed to Blackbutte in 1901. The office ran until 1957. At one time there was a Black Butte School; in 1932 the Black Butte School District was consolidated with the London School District.


Metallurgy of Russia

The metallurgy branch of Russian industry involves about 5% of Russia's GDP, about 18% of industrial production and about 14% of exports. The volume of metallurgical production was 1.87 trillion rubles (2009). Investments in fixed assets in metallurgy were 280 billion rubles (2008). The average salary in the metallurgical industry was 23,258 rubles / month ( March 2010).
Ferrous.
The share of ferrous metallurgy in the volume of industrial production in Russia is about 10%. The steel industry includes more than 1.5 thousand enterprises and organizations, 70% of them city-forming, and more than 660 thousand employees.
As of 2008, Russia ranked 4th in the world steel production (72 million tons per year). As of 2007, Russia takes third place in the world (after China and Japan) in exportation of steel products (27.6 million tons per year).
As of January 1, 2007, the production capacity of finished rolled steel in Russia amounted to 67.9 million tons. From 2000 to 2008, steel making capacity increased by 6.7 million tons, production of finished rolled steel by 4.3 million tons, and the production of steel pipes by 780 thousand tons.
More than 80% of industrial production of Russian ferrous metallurgy accounted for 9 large companies : Evraz , Severstal , NLMK , Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK), MC metalloinvest , Mechel , TMK , United Metallurgical Company , Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant.
The volume of basic iron and steel production in 2006 exceeded that from the early 1990s. From 2000 to 2007, the growth in output of steel and alloys was due to accelerated development of modern advanced techniques, in particular: electric furnace steelmaking. In 2007, production of rolled ferrous metals amounted to 59.6 million tons.
Russian steelmakers :
Pipe Industry.
From 2000 to 2007 the production of pipes in Russia increased by 2.7 times. As of 2008, the production of steel pipes Russia takes third place in the world.
In recent years, the modernization of the Russian pipe industry had invested about $8 billion, started production of new products, improved quality. by 2010, about 40% of the pipes were produced in Russia on the new equipment.
Nonferrous.
As of 2010, the share of non-ferrous metals in the Russian GDP - 2.6%, industrial production - 10,2%.
As of 2008, Russia ranked 1st in the world in the production of nickel, nickel exports and export of aluminum.
As of 2008, Russia ranked 2nd in the world in the production of aluminum (after China ) and the production of titanium mill products.
Russian producers of non-ferrous metals :
Public policy.
In recent years, the Russian government has taken measures to protect the domestic market, abolished import duties on the main types of equipment, supported by Russian firms buying metals assets abroad, has taken steps to reduce trade restrictions on foreign markets, acting against Russian steel products. These measures have contributed to the positive results of the activities of the Russian metallurgy in the 2000s.
In March 2009, Russia was approved by the Ministry of Industry Development Strategy for the metallurgical industry of the Russian Federation until 2020.


Budureasa mine

The Budureasa mine is a large mine in the northwest of Romania in Bihor County, southeast of Oradea and north of the capital, Bucharest. Budureasa represents the largest magnesium reserve in Romania and the largest in Europe having estimated reserves of 40 million tonnes of ore grading 30% magnesium.


Fannie Quigley

Fannie Quigley (1870 – August 25, 1944) was an American pioneer and prospector and cook who became involved in mining operations during the Klondike Gold Rush. Living in the wilderness of what is now Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska, she was known for her hunting, trapping, and cooking skills.
Biography.
Quigley was born Frances Sedlacek in Wahoo, Nebraska, in 1870. She left home and headed west at age 16, finding employment at work camps along the growing Union Pacific Railroad. She continued her travels north during the Klondike Gold Rush, arriving in Dawson City, Yukon, in 1897. Quigley earned a living by cooking for prospectors; she would load up a sled with a portable stove and provisions, hike out to remote creeks where prospectors were often ill-prepared, and sell her meals from out of a tent. This work earned Quigley the nickname "Fannie the Hike". Quigley also began mining herself, and staked her first claim in Clear Creek in 1900.
Quigley married her first husband, Angus McKenzie, in 1900. Together, they operated a roadhouse on Hunker Creek, near Gold Bottom. After a turbulent few years together, Quigley left her husband and hiked to Rampart, Alaska.
In 1906, Quigley travelled to Kantishna, Alaska, which people had recently begun mining. She staked 26 claims between 1907 and 1919. Quigley married her second husband, Joe Quigley, in 1918, and they ran a mining operation together, leasing out their claims to miners.
Fannie Quigley provided for the mining camp by hunting, trapping, and growing food in her garden, and became known as an extraordinary backcountry cook. Because the Quigleys' cabin was located en route for mountaineering expeditions to Mount McKinley (now Denali), they hosted many visitors, including writer Jack London.
A practicing naturalist and nurse, Quigley went to work at the Nenana Hospital in Nenana, Alaska, in 1920, during the Spanish flu pandemic. In 1937, the Quigleys' mining claims were leased to the Red Top Mining Company; the Quigleys split the income as part of their divorce settlement.
After the divorce, Joe Quigley moved to Seattle and Fannie remained in Kantishna. Her cabin was now accessible by a road through Mount McKinley Park (previously, one could only access it by dog sled or on foot), and she hosted park personnel and dignitaries in her home.
Death and legacy.
Quigley died in her cabin in 1944 at age 73. Today, visitors can visit the remnants of her homestead, located in what is now Denali National Park and Preserve.
Quigley was inducted into the Alaska Mining Hall of Fame in 2000. A biography by Jane G. Haigh, "Searching for Fannie Quigley: A Wilderness Life in the Shadow of Mount McKinley," was published in 2007.


Missouri Mines State Historic Site

Missouri Mines State Historic Site occupies Federal Mill No. 3 in Park Hills, Missouri, United States, which processed the lead and zinc ore that was mined in the immediate area for many decades. The site's old power building features a geological and mining history museum and interpretive center focusing on the state's historic Old Lead Belt.
The plant was built by the Federal Lead Co. in 1906-1907 and subsequently bought by competitor St. Joseph Lead Company in 1923. The mill was retired in 1972 as much of the ore in the area had been mined and major operations were moving west. In 1975, the land was donated to the state of Missouri for recreational use. Much of the land was considered too damaged for return to a natural state and so became set aside for off-roading vehicles as St. Joe State Park, while the mill site was designated an interpretive center.


Savannah Johnson Speak

Savannah Johnson Speak (4 September 1868 – 29 December 1929) was an English mining engineer and metallurgist. He received a technical education at the Yorkshire College and the Royal School of Mines after which he worked in mining around the world and lectured in metallurgy at the University of Sydney. He was in business as a consultant engineer in London and was president of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy from 1922-23.
Early life.
Savannah Johnson Speak was born on 4 September 1868 at East Bierley, Yorkshire, to Savannah Speak and his wife Annie. His father was a "cotton warp dresser". He was schooled at Saltaire and received his advanced education at the Yorkshire College (1886–89) which specialised in scientific and technical subjects such as mining and geology and eventually was adsorbed into the University of Leeds. This was followed by study at the Royal School of Mines.
Career.
Speak worked in Transvaal in 1890 and in German South West Africa in 1891. He was lecturer in metallurgy at the University of Sydney from 1892 to 1894. He was a metallurgist at the Geldenhuis Deep Gold Mine, Johannesburg, in 1895-97 and worked in the Dutch East Indies 1898-99. He also worked in West Africa, Celebes, Korea, British Columbia, Siberia, Argentina, and Northern Rhodesia.
From 1905, Speak was a consulting engineer, practicing from London Wall Buildings, and became a partner in the firm of Hooper, Speak & Co. He was president of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy from 1922-23.
Later life.
In the 1920s, Speak was resident at Monkenhurst, New Barnet, on the edge of Monken Hadley Common. He died on 29 December 1929 at Dixton, Hadley Common, leaving an estate of £14,439. His executors were Ethel Maud Speak, widow, and William Henry Speak, merchant.


Lemgare Lead Mines

Lemgare Lead Mines is a mining company based in northeastern Ireland.
History.
Lemgare Lead Mines was formed on Monday 6 April 1846 at The Angel Hotel in Liverpool by way of a Shareholders meeting. The entire working capital of the company was £8,000 and the prospectus was outlined on that date also.
The operation was run by Captain James Skimming (1817–1880),who was also the Mining Agent for the North Eastern Mining Company of Ireland which, along with Lemgare, also encompassed nearby Lisdrumgormley, Coolartragh (Bond Mine) and Hope Mines near Castleblayney.
Lemgare Mines were recorded in a GSI report and are recognised as a geologically important site (CGS).
The mine features are not really preserved and are insufficiently interesting to require any designation for the site. However, the presence of rare wulfenite means Lemgare warrants CGS status.
Dr Colin Andrew - Report / Information submitted to An Bord Pleanala (Oral Hearing) 13 May 2016.
In the townland of Lemgare an adit and three shafts along a strike length of 50 fathoms (95m) were sunk to a depth of 18 fathoms (35m) below adit on a nearly vertical vein by the Consolidated Mines of Bond, Lemgare and Lisdrumgormel (sic) Company of Liverpool under Captain John Skimming commencing in July 1846. The vein is supposed to be the same as that at Annaglogh, located approximately 1km to the SSE, which are marked on the MS. 6″ map of the Geological Survey. Griffith (1861, p. 150) gives Lemgare as a worked mine. Mem. 59, p. 28, regards it as on the continuation of the Annaglogh lode.
The Lemgare vein has been profitably worked at Annaglogh. It heads easterly at around 75o, and is joined from the north by another, also heading easterly at around 60o. A shaft at the junction reached rich ore at 17 fathoms (~30m). The lode is supposed to be thrown northwards by a cross-course about 1.2m wide which exists as indicated on the map, as all trace of it is lost farther to the east, it is believed to have been proved 150m farther north.
Lemgare Mine was re-opened by Billiton NV in the early 1950s as part of prospecting activities. The adit extended along an unmineralized fault zone for approximately 110m, being connected to surface by a short (4m) ventilation shaft near the portal. Upon entering sandstone wall-rocks the fault became mineralized and some stoping was seen to surface (20m) near the end of the drive which extended but was inaccessible but almost certainly extends below two surface shaft collapse located above. An inclined shaft or winze to indeterminate depth (presumably to 18 fathoms (~35m) was also located along the course of the adit with a 10cm rib of galena on the fault plane.


Hongsa coal mine

The Hongsa Coal Mine is a coal mine in Sainyabuli Province. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 424 million tonnes of lignite, one of the largest coal reserves in the world.


Klondex Mines

Klondex Mines was a North American gold-mining company, based in Reno, Nevada and Vancouver, British Columbia. It had three operating mines in Nevada and one in Manitoba. and was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the NYSE American. In March 2018, it was acquired by Hecla Mining.
History.
Klondex Mines was founded in 1975, through the spinoff of the Fire Creek Project in Nevada from Placer Development. Until 2012, Klondex was principally engaged in exploration of its Fire Creek Project. It attempted to sell this project to several suitors in the 2000s, but was not successful in doing so.
In 2011, a dissident shareholder group successfully proposed a new board of directors. In September 2012, the current CEO, Paul Huet, took control, as the result of another proxy battle. Huet had experience with the company, as part of previous teams examining the possibility of buying its Fire Creek project. At that time, the company was in dire financial straits.
In February 2014, the company bought the Midas mine and mill in Nevada from Newmont Mining for US$83 million. Huet had experience with the mine, having previously been the mine manager for seven years. In January 2016, the company purchased the Rice Lake gold mine (also called the True North mine) in Manitoba for US$32 million, from creditors. Also in 2016, it purchased the Hollister mine in Nevada for US$80 million.
In 2018, the company laid off 90 employees at its True North mine, as the result of disappointing production in 2017. Production was only about 25,000 ounces, as opposed to the expected 50,000 ounces.
In March 2018, the company was acquired for US$462 million by Hecla Mining. At the same time, Klondex's Canadian assets (principally the True North mine) were spun out into a new entity, Klondex Canada, listed on the TSX Venture Exchange.
Operations.
Klondex had four operating mines, with total 2017 production of about 220,000 gold-equivalent ounces. Its four mines were


Oleniy Ruchey mine

The Oleniy Ruchey mine is a large mine located in the Perm Krai. Oleniy Ruchey represents one of the largest phosphates reserve in Russia having estimated reserves of 403.5 million tonnes of ore grading 15.8% P2O5.
As of 2014, the developer of the mine is North-Western Phosphorus Company (NWPC), part of Acron Group.


Brisas mine

The Brisas mine is one of the largest gold mines in Venezuela and in the world. The mine is located in the Orinoco Arc in the center of the country in Bolívar. The mine has estimated reserves of 10.2 million oz of gold.


Centerra Gold

Centerra Gold Inc. is a Canadian mining company that owns and operates the Kumtor Gold Mine in the Kyrgyz Republic, the Mount Milligan copper-gold mine in British Columbia, Canada, and the Öksüt gold mine in Turkey. Through its Thompson Creek Metals subsidiary company, it also own the Endako and Thompson Creek molybdenum mines in British Columbia and Idaho, respectively, though they have been inactive since Centerra's acquisition. The company formerly owned and operated the Boroo Gold Mine in Mongolia. Headquartered in Toronto, Centerra Gold is a public company with shares traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange.
History.
Centerra Gold is the result of a corporate spin-off the Cameco Corporation's gold mining interests. In 2002 the Canadian uranium mining company Cameco created the Kumtor Mountain Holdings Corporation as a subsidiary which, in December 2003, would be re-named Centerra Gold. As part of a new restructuring and investment agreement the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic, effective June 2004, under which tax and legal rules governing the Kumtor project were finalized, both Cameco (66%) and Kyrgyz Republic-owned Kyrgyzaltyn JSC (33%) transferred their interests in the Kumtor mine to Centerra, with outstanding debts owed to the International Finance Corporation and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development exchanged for a 4% interest in the new company. Their initial public offering (IPO) sold 27.3% of the company, raising $253 million at $15.50 per share, leaving Cameco and Kyrgyzaltyn owning 52.7% and 15.7%. Concurrent with the IPO, Centerra acquired 100% ownership of the Boroo gold mine in Mongolia through its acquisition of Australian company AGR Limited. The company's stock prices peak at $46 in 2006 before they were split with each shareholder receiving an additional two shares.
In addition to its principal asset, the Kumtor mine, owned and operated through its Kyrgyz subsidiaries Kumtor Gold Company and Kumtor Operating Company, Centerra also owned and operated Boroo Gold Mine in Mongolia through its AGR Limited subsidiary. Both countries were relatively new to foreign direct investment, with Kumtor making up 4% of the Kyrgyz Republic's gross domestic product in 2007 and Boroo accounting for almost 10% of Mongolia's GDP in 2004, and consequently subject to an evolving legal environment. While Centerra had negotiated legally-binding investment agreements for both projects to provide a regulatory framework and certainty in financial obligations, conflicts did continue to arise to which the company had to respond. Kumtor was subject to nationalization debates and the agreement was reviewed after both the 2005 and 2010 revolutions, while Mongolia adopted new mining tax and environmental protection laws that threatened the viability of Boroo and Centerra's developing Gatsuurt property. Both mines were also subject to work stoppages and interruptions, including wall failures at the Kumtor mine in 2006 and 2012, strikes and blockades and a failed mining inspection at Boroo. Boroo reached its end of mine life in September 2012 though milling of excavated material continued for another two years before entering care and maintenance in 2015. Centerra sold all its Mongolian holdings (the Boroo facility and the Gatsuurt project), in 2018, to Singaporean investment company OZD ASIA PTE Ltd for $35 million.
In 2016, seeking to lower its risk profile, Centerra acquired Thompson Creek Metals, a deeply-indebted American molybdenum mining company that was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (and previously on the New York Stock Exchange prior to the collapse of its share price). The deal was opposed by the Kyrgyz directors of Centerra but avoided a shareholder vote (at the time Kyrgyzaltyn owned 32% of Centerra); the US$1.1 billion deal involved immediately paying the debt that was coming due that year, inheriting the remainder of the debt and giving Thompson Creek shareholders an 8% interest in Centerra (which diluted Kyrgyzaltyn interest to 27%). Through the Thompson Creek Metals subsidiary, Centerra now owned and operated the Mount Milligan gold-copper mine and Endako molybdenum mine in British Columbia, Canada, and the Thompson Creek molybdenum mine in Idaho and the Langeloth metallurgical plant in Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, of Centerra's exploration properties, the Öksüt project in Turkey was proving to be economical and technically feasible. The company had acquired complete ownership in 2012 and made the investment decision to construct the mine in 2018. In 2015, former AuRico Gold CEO Scott Perry was appointed CEO of Centerra Gold, which acquired AuRico Gold spin off, and TSX-listed, AuRico Metals for $310 million in cash in 2018, giving Centerra ownership of two net smelter returns and the Kemess Mine facility which had been closed since 2011 but was undergoing feasibility studies to access a new deposit.
Political instability in Kyrgyzstan following the October 2020 elections, and the ensuing protests, referendum to switch from a parliamentary system of government to a presidential system, and then the election of nationalist Sadyr Japarov as president, led to a law being adopted that allowed Kyrgyzstan to temporarily operate the Kumtor Gold Mine for 3 months for the purposes of rectifying alleged dangers to people and the natural environment. At the same time, a Kyrgyz court fined the company US$3 billion for violations of environmental laws.
Operations.
As of 2020, Centerra Gold operates three gold mines: Kumtor gold mine in Kyrgyzstan, the Öksüt gold mine in Turkey, and the Mount Milligan gold/copper mine in Canada. Through its Thompson Creek Metals subsidiary, Centerra also owns and operates the Thompson Creek molybdenum mine and Langeloth metallurgical plant in the United States, and the Endako molybdenum mine in Canada.
The Kumtor gold mine is located in the Jeti-Ögüz District of the Issyk-Kul Region in the Kyrgyz Republic. At over above sea level, it is a high-altitude mine, among the Lysyi and Davidov glaciers in the Tian Shan mountains. It is a conventional open-pit mine with an on-site mill where doré bars are produced from ore that is ground, dissolved into a pyrite flotation, sent through a carbon in leach system and collected by electrowinning. The mine opened in 1997 and since ownership was transferred to Centerra in 2002, the mine has produced approximately 500,000 ounces of gold per year, except for 2012 due to a pit wall collapse (from excessive amounts of ice following winter storms) which closed operations for half the year. In addition to the numerous accidents that occurred prior to Centerra, the mine has been the subject to numerous controversies, including health and safety concerns, impacts on the natural environment from excavating glacial material and disposal of waste, and political debate due to its prominence in the Kyrgyz Republic.
The Öksüt gold mine is located in the Kayseri Province of Turkey. It is an open pit mine with ore that is processed using heap leaching and electrowinning to produce doré bars. Centerra has an interest in the project since 2009 and acquired full ownership in 2012 as an exploration property. Following favourable economic and technical feasibility studies began construction in 2018 with production commencing in 2020 with an expected 8 year mine life. It is operated by the subsidiary company Öksüt Madencilik through Centerra Luxembourg Holdings SARL.
The Mount Milligan copper-gold mine is located in northern British Columbia, Canada, between Fort St. James and Mackenzie. Thompson Creek Metals had brought it into commercial production in 2014, with Centerra Gold gaining control effective October 2016 with their acquisition of Thompson Creek Metals. It is an open-pit mine where the ore is only processed be ore concentrate which is shipped overseas, via Vancouver. The mine produces approximately the equivalent (contained in the concentrate) of 180,000 ounces of gold each year and 60 million pounds of copper.
With its 2016 acquisition of Thompson Creek Metals, Centerra also gained ownership and control over the dormant Endako and Thompson Creek molybdenum mines and the Langeloth Metallurgical Facility. The Endako mine is located in northern British Columbia, Canada, near Fraser Lake, and is operated as a joint venture with the Japanese company Sojitz Corporation which has a 25% interest. The Thompson Creek mine, located near Challis, Idaho, and partly within the Salmon–Challis National Forest. Both the Endako and Thompson Creek mines, before they entered care and maintenance in 2014-15 due to low molybdenum commodity prices making the mines uneconomical, had supplied Thompson Creek Metals' Langeloth Metallurgical Facility in Langeloth, Pennsylvania. However since Centerra Gold tood ownership it has only processed molybdenum concentrate from third parties.
Past operations.
The Boroo Gold Mine located in Selenge Province of Mongolia, was owned and operated by Centerra Gold between the company's 2004 acquisition of AGR Limited and the 2015 sale of its Mongolian assets to OZD ASIA PTE Ltd. Prior to 2004 Centerra, through parent company Cameco, held partial interest in the Boroo project and jointly conducted exploration and development work with AGR. The mine had reached commercial production in February 2004 and produced approximately 50,000 to 90,000 ounces of gold dore per year until extraction activities ended in 2014, though processing of remaining material continued into 2015.


Gemfields

Gemfields Group Ltd (formerly Pallinghurst Resources Limited) is a company incorporated in Guernsey and headquartered in London, United Kingdom, and is a supplier of coloured gemstones. The company specializes in the mining, processing and sale of coloured gemstones, in particular emeralds and rubies. The group owns the "Kagem" emerald mine in Zambia and the "Montepuez" ruby mine in Mozambique. Gemfields produces around 25% of the world's emerald supply and around 50% of the world's ruby supply.
In addition to the gemstone mining and production assets the Group also owns and operates the Fabergé luxury brand.
Gemfields holds additional stakes in companies based in Zambia, Mozambique, Ethiopia and Madagascar. It also holds a minority stake in platinum-group metals producer Sedibelo Platinum Mines Limited.
In May 2017, the company's board (under the name of Pallinghurst Resources Limited) announced the terms of an offer to acquire the entire issued, and to be issued, share capital of Gemfields Ltd (then as Gemfields plc and listed on AIM), other than the Gemfields Ltd shares already held by the company – approximately 47%. Under the terms of the offer, each Gemfields Ltd shareholder was entitled to receive 1.91 Gemfields Group Ltd shares for each Gemfields Ltd share. The acquisition completed in late 2017 and Gemfields Ltd is now a 100% subsidiary of Gemfields Group Limited.
In February 2020, the company, under the name of Gemfields Group Limited, relisted the Gemfields brand on the AIM stock exchange, in London. The company is currently dual listed on the JSE and AIM.
In July 2009, Gemfields Ltd held its first emerald auction. To date, the company has held 35 auctions of rough emerald and beryl produced from "Kagem" which have generated revenues totalling USD 647 million.
In June 2014, Gemfields Ltd held a ruby and corundum auction in Singapore. To date, the company has held 13 auctions of ruby and corundum produced from Montepuez Ruby Mining Limitada (MRM) which have generated revenues totalling USD 584 million.
In 2019, Gemfields paid £5.8 million to settle accusations of human rights abuses by community members living near Montepuez Ruby Mine. The allegations included beatings, shootings, and sexual assault.
Gemfields Authorised Auction Partner.
Gemfields do have a special certification for auctioneers who visit & and have a successful winning bids at the auction. These companies are given the status of "Gemfields Authorised Auction Partner" which can only be used with bilateral agreements between Gemfields and the company. The companies can use the branding & identity in promotional materials for the individual companies.
Mines.
Kagem Emerald Mine.
Gemfields owns the "Kagem" emerald mine in Zambia which is responsible for approximately 25% of the world's emerald supply. The pit is around deep, exposing one concordant and four discordant pegmatites over a strike length of . Gemfields own 75% of the mine while the remaining 25% stake is held by the government in Lusaka.
The "Kagem" mine is the first emerald mine in the world to be assessed against Eco-Age’s Green Carpet Challenge (GCC) "Principles of Sustainable Excellence".
Large emeralds of note found in the Kagem deposit include the ‘Inkalamu’, the Lion Emerald, a 5,655 carat Zambian emerald crystal with remarkable clarity and a perfectly balanced golden green hue.
Montepuez Ruby Deposit.
Gemfields Ltd acquired a 75% stake in the "Montepuez" ruby deposit in Mozambique in February 2012. The "Monepuez" ruby deposit is located in the northeast of Mozambique in the Cabo Delgado Province. Covering approximately .
Large rubies of note found in the "Montepuez" deposit are the "Rhino Ruby" (40.23 carats), and the "Eyes of the Dragon" (45 carats).
Montepuez residents have accused private security forces employed by Gemfields at the Montepuez Ruby Mine of perpetrating acts of violence against local community members. These accusations include robberies, shootings of illegal miners, arson of local homes to clear area for mining, and in one case, burying an illegal miner alive.
In February 2020, a tunnel collapse at Montepuez Ruby Mine killed eleven people.
Subsidiaries.
Fabergé.
Gemfields Ltd acquired Fabergé Limited on 28 January 2013. This valued the brand at approximately USD 142 million.
Oriental Mining.
Gemfields owns "Oriental Mining SARL", a company incorporated in Madagascar. Oriental has 9 exploration licences covering emeralds, rubies, sapphires, tourmalines and garnets in Madagascar.
Web Gemstone Mining.
Gemfields owns 75% of Web Gemstone Mining, PLC, with a mining co-operative of local villagers owning 15% and Mazengia Demma owning the remaining 10%. The company holds a 200-square-kilometre emerald exploration license in southern Ethiopia. Exploration activity began in June 2015 in an area to the north of the licence, called the Dogogo Block. The area was selected based on favourable geological settings and evidence of past artisanal activity.
Web Gemstone Mining has halted all operations since 29 June 2018 because of a protest organised by local youth groups. On 31 July 2018, an armed mob attacked and breached the sort house and strong room, and looted all emerald stock stored within.
Corporate responsibility.
During the mining process, the mines are getting prepared for backfilling, to reduce the environmental impact and allow for faster ecological restoration.


Golconda Mine

The Golconda Mine, in the area of Lake City, Colorado, was a historic silver mine.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. The listed property included one contributing building and one contributing site.
A historic log building survives.


West Coast Gold Rush

The West Coast Gold Rush on the South Island's West Coast of New Zealand lasted from 1864 to 1867.
Description.
The gold rush populated the area, which up until then had been visited by few Europeans. Gold was found near the Taramakau River in 1864 by two Māori, Ihaia Tainui and Haimona Taukau. In 1865–66 gold was discovered at Okarito, Bruce Bay (the scene of the Hunt's Duffer gold rush), around Charleston and along the Grey River.
Miners were attracted from the Central Otago Gold Rush, and from Victoria, Australia where the Victorian gold rush had nearly finished and by the end of 1864 there were an estimated 1800 prospectors on the West Coast, with many in the Hokitika area. Hokitika was in 1866 the most populous settlement in New Zealand with a population of more than 25,000, and boasted more than 100 pubs.
The Canterbury Provincial Council in Christchurch tasked their provincial engineer, Edward Dobson, to examine every possible pass to the West Coast from the watersheds of the Waimakariri, Taramakau and Hurunui Rivers. After finishing his examination, he declared that "Arthur's pass" was by far the most suitable to get to the gold fields; his son Arthur had discovered a pass in 1864. The provincial government decided that a road was to be built between Christchurch and Hokitika over Arthur's Pass, a distance of , and Edward Dobson was put in charge of the project. The road was opened on 20 March 1866.
In 1867 the rush began to decline, though gold mining continued on the Coast for some years. In the 1880s, quartz miners at Bullendale and Reefton were the first users of electricity in New Zealand.
The main towns on the West Coast had been established, as well as many gold rush towns like Okarito (at one time the largest town on the Coast) and Charlestown (later renamed Charleston), which both almost vanished when the miners moved on. The Coast was the second-richest gold-bearing area of New Zealand after Otago.
In popular culture.
Eleanor Catton's novel "The Luminaries", which won the 2013 Man Booker Prize, is set in Hokitika during the West Coast Gold Rush. This setting was partly inspired by Elsie Locke's classic New Zealand children's novel "The Runaway Settlers," which also features the gold rush.


Michigan Iron Industry Museum

The Michigan Iron Industry Museum, a branch facility of the Michigan Historical Center, is a community museum serving the heritage of the Marquette Iron Range on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The museum is located in Negaunee, a town built atop the geological strata of the iron range near Marquette. Until recently, Negaunee was a one-industry town that centered on the mining of iron ore. The Negaunee region served as the center of U.S. iron ore production from about 1880 until approximately 1900, when this role was taken over by iron mines on Minnesota's Mesabi Iron Range. The Michigan Iron Industry Museum opened in 1987 close to the Carp River Forge site on the Carp River where Michigan iron ore was first forged in 1848.
Admission to the museum is free, and the museum is open year-round. The museum also serves as the focal point for the Iron Ore Heritage Trail, a bicycle and hiking trail that presents a look at some of the key sites of human and geological heritage on the Marquette Iron Range.


Seven Sisters, Neath Port Talbot

Seven Sisters (: source of the (river) Dulais) is a village and community the Dulais Valley, Wales, UK. It lies north-east of Neath. Seven Sisters falls within the Seven Sisters ward of Neath Port Talbot county borough.
History.
The village of Seven Sisters had always been recognised historically for its coal mining pit that was located in the middle of what was once one of the richest sources of coal in Britain, if not the world, in the heart of the South Wales Coalfield.
Development of many mines, and hence small settlements into villages and towns in the area, was brought about by a combination of a rich deposits of anthracite in the western South Wales coalfield, as well as the construction of the Neath and Brecon Railway from 1862.
Colliery.
David Evans of the Evans-Bevan coal mining partnership, had wanted to call the colliery after his daughter, Isabella Bevan who cut the first sod on the land at Bryn Dulais farm with a silver spade on Monday 11 March 1872. However, in light of superstition, and the fact that his own six sisters attended the ceremony, Evans agreed to call the mine Seven Sisters.
Anthracite coal fields always suffer from blow out, and on 10 November 1907, one occurred which killed 5 men. In 1923, there were 607 men working at Seven Sisters, producing from the Furnace Four Feet, Brass and Nine Feet Big Vein seams. During World War II the colliery was featured in an anti-Nazi film "The Silent Village," made with the cooperation of the South Wales Miners Federation.
During the 1950s geological problems and changing economic conditions took their toll, and in May 1963 the colliery closed and the pit filled in. The men who had been employed at the Seven Sisters were transferred to the nearby Blaenant Colliery, which closed in 1990.
Village.
With the opening of the mine in 1875, a community grew up around it. The present day name of the village came from the fact that Evan Evans had one son and seven daughters, hence the "seven sisters". At its peak in 1945 the colliery employed over 759 men from the surrounding area.
The first dwellings erected in the village were single storey buildings for the coal miners, named Brick Row, which are still in place today. More collieries were opened in the surrounding area, such as the demand for coal increased. Nant-y-Cafn or Dillwyn colliery was opened in 1884, Henllan Colliery 1911 and Brynteg Colliery and brickworks in 1885. All housing in the village prior to the 1930s was for coal miners, brick workers and railway employees.
A junior school was opened in 1884 at a cost of £530 for the school building and £280 for the school house. 33 children appeared on the register for this year. Its first headmaster was Mr W.J. Thomas employed on an annual salary of £52.
In 1905, a mixed collection of bronze objects found much earlier in the Bryntêg area, was recognized as being an important find. Held in the National Museum of Wales, they are known as "The Seven Sisters Hoard."
The palace.
In 1912, Evan Evans Bevan agreed to build a village hall, which on completion in 1914 became known as the "Palace." Used for gathering and travelling drama shows, from 1916 it showed films. Purchased in 1925 by the Reading Room Committee, it became the Seven Sisters' Miners' Welfare Society, which later established a children's playing field, a football field and in 1935 the construction of an outdoor swimming pool, completed in 1932. In 1941 the Society purchased the 1926 institute and bowling green, constructed by Evan Evans Bevan. The Society was taken over by the National Coal Board on nationalisation in 1947.
Present day.
The former colliery site now has the Canolfan sheltered housing complex, and the Ysticlau Park playing field. Some history of the village still remains, with the pit head winding gear sunk in the ground next to the site of the old colliery, and five pairs of preserved sections of railway line indicating the size of the enterprise.
Although the railway still runs through the village, the station was removed and the line is at present freight only. Access to Neath is via the First Cymru 907 services to/from Coelbren; while the 158/X58 services run to Swansea's Quadrant Bus Station to/from Banwen. The former pit head baths were converted to an indoor swimming pool which was later converted into a multi-purpose Community Hall.
Originally the colliery team, Seven Sisters RFC founded in 1897, are a WRU affiliated rugby union club.
The village has as of 2019 a post office, small convenience shop, hairdressers, a cafe/fish and chip shop, a takeaway selling pizzas, kebabs and burgers and a small shop selling gifts.


2009 Heilongjiang mine explosion

The 2009 Heilongjiang mine explosion () was a mining accident that occurred on November 21 2009, near Hegang in the Heilongjiang province, northeastern China, which killed over 108 people. A further of 29 people were hospitalised. The explosion occurred in the Xinxing coal mine shortly before dawn, at 02:30 CST, when 528 people were believed to be in the pit. Of these, 420 are believed to have been rescued.
Location and explosion.
The mine, located close to the China–Russia border, is owned by the state-run Heilongjiang Longmay Mining Holding Group Co., Ltd., which has been open since 1917, and produces 12 million tons of coal per year, making it one of the largest and oldest coal mines in the country. The explosion itself, a preliminary investigation concluded, was caused by trapped, pressurised gases underground, caused by poor ventilation in the mine shaft. The blast was powerful enough that it was felt six miles away. Many nearby buildings were damaged, including one next to the mine whose roof was blown off. The director of Hegang General hospital, where the injured were being treated, told the Xinhua News Agency that "most of the injured are suffering from compound injuries, such as respiratory injuries, broken bones and gas poisoning".
Response.
A Chinese official said rescue efforts were being impeded by gas and debris from collapsed tunnels. The death toll makes it the worst accident of its type within the past two years. While hope for those trapped was fading, a Chinese official stated that the effort was still a rescue operation. San Jingguang, a mining company spokesman stated that "if we haven't found them, to us that means they are still alive."
Chinese Vice-Premier Zhang Dejiang visited the site to inspect rescue efforts on the afternoon of November 21, while President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao are both said to have "made instructions on the rescue work". Both have also expressed condolences for those killed. Meanwhile, Li Zhanshu, the governor of Heilongjiang called for increased safety standards in Chinese mines, and the provincial work safety bureau vowed to step up its mining reform programme.
Chinese state television initially reported that the death toll was 31. It later reported the number of dead had more than doubled over the extremely cold night.
As a result of the accident, the director, vice director and chief engineer of the mining company are reported to have been removed from their individual posts. The Chinese state prosecutor is investigating the possibility that criminal negligence was responsible for the disaster. Chinese state media reported on November 23, 2009, that an investigation had concluded poor management was to blame for the incident. Relatives of the deceased also claimed on November 23 that officials did not notify them of the accident.
References.