Advanced Conveyors Move More Coal Cost Effectively
Two new Illinois Basin installations were engineered for high-performance by steve fiscor, editor...
Hauler Maintenance in Theory and Practice
Experts say software and automation advances provide key tools to target longtime goals, but don’t...
Designing Dams in a Climate of Uncertainty
Despite recent news of floods and failures, experts say impoundments built on sound science should...
2019 US Prep Plant Census
Several plants change hands as bankruptcies force owners to liquidate by steve fiscor, editor This...
Easing Your Strip-ratio Burden
Suppliers hope to give miners options for moving more for less by jesse morton, technical writer...
Evaluating the Stability of Shale Gas Wells in Longwall Barrier Pillars
Researchers evaluate the stability of shale gas wells in longwall barrier pillars by peter zhang,...
Teck, CN Reach Rail Shipping Agreement
CN and Teck Resources Ltd. announced a long-term rail agreement for shipping of steelmaking coal from Teck’s four British Columbia operations between Kamloops and Neptune terminals, and other West Coast ports. The agreement runs...
Vale Will Shutter Mozambique Coal Operations
Brazil’s Vale SA will place its Mozambican coal operations on maintenance for three months, which accounts for about one-third of the southeast African country’s export earnings. Mozambique exported $1.7 billion worth of the...
Anglo American Sells Portion of Grosvenor Mine
Anglo American has agreed to sell a 12% interest in its Grosvenor mine in Queensland, Australia, to a consortium of Japanese companies for about US$141 million. This consortium, comprised of Nippon Steel Corp., Mitsui & Co....
EPA to Roll Back Regulations for CCRs, Wastewater
On Monday, November 4, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced two proposed regulations related to power plants — one that applies to the management of coal combustion residuals (CCR) and one that revises the...
PJM Faces Challenges During Autumn, Winter
by jennifer mckevitt As autumn fades and November winds swell into December squalls, those in temperate climates wonder, “What should we expect this winter? What should we do to prepare?” Multiply that concern by 10,000 and one...
Bluefield Hosts Another Successful Coal Show
by steve fiscor, editor-in-chief This time around it was unseasonably warm at the Bluefield Coal Show. The biannual event organized by the Chamber of the Two Virginias was held at the Brushfork Armory in Bluefield, West...
Coal India Buys Assets in Canada, Australia
by ajoy k. das State-run miner Coal India Ltd. (CIL) has revived its 1-billion-ton-per-year (tpy) production target supported by acquisition of coal assets in Canada and Australia and complete switch-over to automated handling...
Canada’s Ridley Terminals Monthly Coal Exports Jump to Six-year High
Coal exports from the Ridley Terminals in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, jumped to a six-year high of 1.02 million metric tons (mt) in September, up 18.6% from 861,506 mt in August and the highest in a month since 1.09 million...
LED-Lighted Trailing Cables for Surface Mines
Nexans AmerCable, a leading producer of mining cables for North America, has introduced a bright new trailing cable option that helps prevent cable runovers at night or in low-light conditions. The key feature of Tiger Brand...
Michelin MEMS4 Now Available From Komatsu
Michelin and Komatsu announced a joint program to offer the MEMS 4 (Michelin Earthmover Management System) tire-monitoring system as a factory-installed option on select electric-drive trucks manufactured in Peoria, Illinois. ...
Beijing Hosts China Coal & Mining Expo
Coal mining thrives in China. During the last week of October, more than 40,000 visitors passed through the China Coal & Mining Expo, a biennial mining equipment exposition that takes place in Beijing. This year, 640 vendors...
Terex Haulers on Display at Mining Indonesia
Terex Trucks’ TA400, the biggest articulated hauler the company manufactures, were displayed at the Mining Indonesia trade show during mid-September. The company said Indonesian miners appreciate the robustness, simplicity and...
Blasthole Drilling Rig
Epiroc recently introduced the Pit Viper 270 XC series that delivers application flexibility, fuel-efficient performance and enhanced safety with outstanding operator comfort and ease of maintenance. The Pit Viper 270 series, a...
Sandvik Launches Flameproof Underground Loader
The Sandvik LS312, a new 12-metric-ton (13.2-ton) capacity, heavy-duty flameproof underground loader, is powered by a C7.1 mechanical engine with Tier II emission standards. The engine is a new certified diesel engine system for...
Justifying the Investment
These are uncertain times for many in the coal business. Price swings for both thermal- and metallurgical-grade coals are disrupting plans. As markets shift, coal operators need to be prepared to both make ends meet by...
Navajos Become Third Largest US Coal Producer
As this edition was going to press, the Navajo Transitional Energy Co. (NTEC) had finalized its acquisition of the Spring Creek mine in Montana and the Cordero Rojo and Antelope mines in Wyoming. NTEC purchased the mines from...
Best Practices for Annual Hearing Tests by amanda azman and joseph schall
Listen well to this cautionary tale about the surprising results from Bill’s annual hearing test. Bill has worked at the Yourtown mine in various positions for 17 years. Because of his tasks, for the past 15 years, he has been...
Stainless Steel Belt Cleaner Reduces TCO
A new, secondary conveyor-belt cleaner has been engineered specifically for challenging applications where traditional designs fail to deliver the necessary performance or wear life. The CleanScrape Secondary Cleaner (CS2) from...
Regular Inspections Prevent Magnetite Losses
by steve fiscor, editor-in-chief The only thing worse than losing magnetite is losing clean coal. Both are unnecessary expenses that can be prevented with regular inspection and maintenance. Drain-and-rinse screens play a...
Contura Subsidiary Receives National Reclamation Award
Contura Energy announced that one of its affiliate operations, Paramont Contura LLC’s 88 Strip surface mine, earned the 2019 Outstanding Reclamation Award in the coal category given by the National Association of State Land...
Coal Age Presents Longwall USA 2019 Top Performers Award
Last month at the Longwall USA Conference & Exhibition in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Coal Age presented the Top Performer Awards to four U.S. longwall mines. The awards winners were selected based on the mine’s overall safety...
No Solution at All
by conor bernstein Questions continue to arise about the cost and technical feasibility of moving to an emissions-free grid by 2050. Or, in the case of the Green New Dealers, making that jump even sooner. At a recent hearing on...
Restore Competition to Electricity Markets
by conor bernstein Are renewable sources of power ready to stand on their own two feet? Ask wind and solar boosters and the answer would seemingly be yes. The story we’re being told is that after decades of government support,...
Bobby Ray Brown (B.R. Brown)
Bobby Ray Brown (B.R. Brown) passed away on November 7, 2019. He was 87. He was president, chairman and CEO of CONSOL Energy, then known as Consolidation Coal Co., from 1978 to 1998. During his tenure, CONSOL Energy was one of...
ALLU Group Inc.
ALLU Group Inc. announced Rob Houlder as its new territory sales manager for the northeastern United States. Prior to joining ALLU, Houlder was Northeast regional sales manager for Connect Work Tools, where he was responsible...
Drugs, MSHA Enforcement, Maslow’s Hammer
Without a doubt, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is an enforcement agency. It walks, talks, thinks and acts like an enforcement agency. It sees itself as an enforcement agency. Enforcement is its favorite tool,...
With Changing Mine Safety Problems, Why Not Different MSHA Solutions?
by avi meyerstein The current system of mine safety and health regulation is at a crossroads. More than 40 years after the passage of the Mine Act, the mining industry has changed significantly, but the government regulatory...
