Latest Mining Headlines
All the headlines from our Mining Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Brazil Vows to Make BHP & Vale Pay Fine & Cleanup Costs for Mine ‘Catastrophe’
Nov 12 2015 // Brazil’s government said on Wednesday it may fine mining giants BHP Billiton Ltd and Vale SA for the “environmental catastrophe” caused by ruptured dams at an iron ore mine jointly owned by the companies...
Kentucky Court: Mine-Safety Laws Don’t Apply to Subcontractors
Nov 12 2015 // Kentucky’s mine-safety laws and regulations didn’t apply to a subcontract worker who died while installing a massive garage door on a building at a mine site in Muhlenberg County, the state’s Supreme...
Insurers Face Claims of $600 Million from Brazilian Mine Disaster: Sources
Nov 11 2015 // Insurers covering risks for a Brazilian mine where two dams burst last week, killing at least six people, could pay up to $600 million in claims, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Monday. A property...
West Virginia Official Says Miner Drug Abuse Rising
Nov 3 2015 // The director of West Virginia’s mine safety office says there is a growing substance abuse problem among miners. Director Eugene White of the Office of Mine Health, Safety and Training told legislators last month...
Former West Virginia Mine Worker Talks Safety Shortcuts in Blankenship Trial
Oct 26 2015 // A key government witness testified in West Virginia that prosecutors had threatened to charge him alongside his old coal boss, and he was under an immunity agreement Friday when he took the stand. In the criminal trial of...
Patriot Coal Reaches Mine Site Clean-Up Deal with West Virginia
Oct 15 2015 // Patriot Coal and West Virginia environmental regulators have reached an agreement in which the company will set aside more than $50 million to cover cleanup costs at its former mine sites in the state. The Department of...
Trial Update: Ex-Massey CEO Blankenship Downplayed Black-Lung Threat to Miners
Oct 14 2015 // Ex-Massey Energy Chief Executive Officer Donald Blankenship downplayed the threat that miners develop black-lung disease in shafts choked with coal dust, jurors in the executive’s criminal trial heard in a recorded...
Secret CEO Recordings Allowed in Massey Mine Blast Trial
Oct 12 2015 // Donald Blankenship’s own words may come to haunt the former Massey Energy Co. chief executive officer at his criminal trial as a federal judge said prosecutors can let the jury hear conversations secretly recorded...
Massey Mines Alerted Workers When Safety Inspectors on Site: Testimony
Oct 9 2015 // Massey Energy executives used an advanced warning system at the company’s Upper Big Branch mine to alert workers as soon as federal inspectors arrived on site, a former miner testified Thursday at the criminal trial...
Deadly West Virginia Mine Explosion Trial Puts Spotlight on Massey’s King Coal
Oct 6 2015 // Before death came to Upper Big Branch Mine, Donald L. Blankenship managed his patch of Appalachia like King Coal incarnate. Outside homes in rural West Virginia flew the banner of his company, Massey Energy Co.: a flame...
Lessons from the Gold King Mine Contamination
Oct 5 2015 // On Aug. 5, 2015 an environmental contractor acting under the EPA’s authority breached a bulkhead at the entrance to the Gold King Mine in Southwestern Colorado. As a result, 3 million gallons of heavy metal laced...
Trial Set to Start for Former Energy CEO in Deadly West Virginia Mine Blast
Sep 29 2015 // Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship hits the courtroom for a criminal trial Thursday, facing charges that he conspired to break safety laws and lied to financial regulators about safety practices at the site of the...
Regulators in West Virginia Cite 2 Companies in Fatal Mine Accidents
Sep 3 2015 // Two companies have been cited by West Virginia regulators for alleged violations found during investigations of separate fatal mine accidents. The Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training issued two citations to...
Ex-Massey CEO’s Lawyers: Keep West Virginia Mine Blast Out of Criminal Trial
Jul 28 2015 // Attorneys for former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship want evidence about the 2010 explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia kept out of his criminal trial this fall. The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the...
Lawmakers Vow to Review Abandoned Mine Insurance Program
Jun 26 2015 // Lawmakers will examine whether a program that allows coal companies to forgo mine cleanup insurance could leave taxpayers with billion dollar costs, leading members of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources said on...
U.S. Regulators Scrutinizing Coal Mines’ Clean-Up Insurance Program
Jun 8 2015 // Coal giant Peabody Energy has been among the harshest critics of federal energy policies, joining a court challenge to the Obama administration’s new clean air regulations and denouncing its promotion of renewable...
U.S. Judge Denies Motion to Drop Mine Blast Charges Against Ex-Massey CEO
Jun 5 2015 // A federal judge has denied nine motions to dismiss charges against former Massey Energy Chief Executive Officer Don Blankenship related to a 2010 mine explosion in West Virginia that killed 29 people. Blankenship faces...
Alpha Mining Faces Surety Bond Challenge Due to Finances
Jun 2 2015 // Alpha Natural Resources Inc. no longer qualifies for a government program that subsidizes a share of mine cleanup insurance, requiring the coal company to find another way to cover roughly $400 million in liabilities,...
New Mining Map Tool from Environmental Activists Finds West Virginia Most at Risk
Apr 30 2015 // Environmental activists said that mountaintop removal coal mining has been expanding closer to communities in central Appalachia in recent years, with nearly half of the 50 areas most at risk in West Virginia. As part of...
Alpha Natural Facing Big Insurance Buy for Abandoned Mines Shortfall
Apr 20 2015 // Alpha Natural Resources Inc, a struggling U.S. coal company, may be forced to buy costly new insurance or otherwise ensure it can cover obligations for cleaning up any abandoned mines, according to officials in West...
