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Opinion: Alberta should lead in responsible coal mining – by Robin Campbell (Edmonton Journal – November 18, 2024)

https://edmontonjournal.com/

In Alberta, we’ve always proudly told the world about the advantages and attractiveness of investing here. We speak about low taxes, abundant resources, and a highly skilled and motivated workforce. It’s a great story, but as families in communities across the province look for ways to pay their bills, the story needs to be backed by strong public policy.

A shadow looms over what should be a critical element of our mining sector, steelmaking coal. In Alberta, steelmaking coal has immense potential for development. This development can be done responsibly – our laws demand it.

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What Happened to the Canary in the Coal Mine? The Story of How the Real-Life Animal Helper Became Just a Metaphor – by Kat Eschner ; Updated by Sonja Anderson (Smithsonian Magazine – December 30, 2016; March 7, 2024)

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/

The humble bird, which was employed until 1986, represents an important part of mining history

Never mind the gas—it was automation that got them in the end. Throughout much of the 20th century, chirping canaries were staples of the coal mining industry. As coal miners descended into the earth—entering a harsh environment often home to poisonous gases like carbon monoxide—they would bring the yellow birds along as safety mechanisms.

Because carbon monoxide is clear and odorless, miners needed a method for detecting a leak before it killed them. In the mine, a canary’s collapse let workers know there was poisonous gas in the air and gave them some warning time to evacuate.

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Book Brings W.Va. Mine Wars History To Young Readers (West Virginia Public Broadcasting – November 6, 2024)

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The West Virginia mine wars played an important part in U.S. history, but for decades were often left out of history classes. A new book aims to change that. It’s titled The Mine Wars: The Bloody Fight for Workers’ Rights in the West Virginia Coalfields, by Steve Watkins.

The mine wars occurred in the early 1900s as the United Mine Workers tried to unionize coal mines, and coal companies fought back — literally. The conflict culminated in the Battle of Blair Mountain, which was the largest armed insurrection in the US since the American Civil War.

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Opinion – We’re losing the battle to dethrone King Coal – by David Olive (Toronto Star – November 2, 2024)

https://www.thestar.com/

The good news is that the energy transition is well underway. We are electrifying almost everything that was powered by greenhouse-gas emitting fossil fuels. The bad news is that the transition to electricity is largely driven by coal, the dirtiest of fossil fuels and the biggest contributor to climate change.

A quarter of a century after humanity first got serious about global warming at the time of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the world this year will burn a record 8.74 billion metric tonnes of coal, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA).

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Coal mining in the foothills of the Rockies: A tale of two municipalities – by Emma Graney (Globe and Mail – October 14, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A coal mining proposal has divided two neighbouring municipalities in Southern Alberta – and one of them recently received a blow from the Alberta Energy Regulator, which denied its application for an adjournment of licence hearings for a new coal development.

To the north is Ranchland, a municipality of rolling terrain in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains with around 100 residents. To the south is Crowsnest Pass, a municipality of about 5,700 people. Both picturesque, the two municipalities could not be more different when it comes to their positions on coal mining.

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China’s Still Backing Overseas Coal Plants After Ban, Says CREA (Bloomberg News – October 14, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Chinese firms and banks continue to support the expansion of coal power overseas, three years after President Xi Jinping promised to end the practice, according to new research.

Some 8.6 gigawatts of previously unannounced Chinese-backed coal-fired power plants have entered construction or the pre-permitting phase in the past year in places like Southeast Asia and Africa, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air said in a report on Tuesday.

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Britain’s last coal-fired electricity plant is closing. It ends 142 years of coal power in the UK – by Jill Lawless (Associated Press – September 30, 2024)

https://apnews.com/

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s last coal-fired power plant is closing on Monday, ending 142 years of coal-generated electricity in the nation that sparked the Industrial Revolution.

The Ratcliffe-on-Soar station in central England is finishing its final shift at midnight after more than half a century of turning coal into power. The U.K. government hailed the closure as a milestone in efforts to generate all of Britain’s energy from renewable sources by 2030.

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Iran believes all remaining workers have died in coal mine explosion, raising death toll to 49 – by Nasser Karimi (Associated Press – September 24, 2024)

https://apnews.com/

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran said Tuesday it believes the remaining workers trapped by an explosion at a coal mine in the country’s east have died, bringing the death toll in one of its worst industrial disasters to at least 49.

A provincial emergency official, Mohammad Ali Akhoundi, gave the death toll in a report carried by Iranian state television from the mine in Tabas.

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[Coal Mining] Life today feels tough, but our ancestors faced harder battles – by Gabriela Bereghazyova (Slovak Spectator – September 24, 2024)

https://spectator.sme.sk/

In an age where millennials struggle with mortgages and the cost of living, it’s easy to romanticize the past.

Today, life is not a stroll through a rose garden. But for the purpose of a reality check, it is worth contrasting our current challenges with those of our ancestors who chose to pursue a brighter future in the New World just over a century ago.

Let’s take a look at what life was like for our ancestors at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Countless people in Slovakia, then Upper Hungary, lived in poverty. Their homeland did not offer them a way out of the vicious circle of destitution.

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Approval of West Cumbria Mining coal mine ruled “unlawful” in court appeal – by Regan Slaymaker (Mining Technology – September 16, 2024)

https://www.mining-technology.com/

Friends of the Earth and South Lakeland Action on Climate Change (SLACC) challenged the then Conservative Government’s approval in 2022.

London’s High Court ruled on Friday (13 September) that the 2022 approval of West Cumbria Mining’s deep coal mine was unlawful. The mine was set to become the UK’s first new deep coal mine in decades until Friends of the Earth and the SLACC challenged the then-Conservative Government’s approval in early 2023.

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Goldman has a stock model that’s challenging ESG assumptions – by Frances Schwartzkopff (Bloomberg News – September 10, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

At Goldman Sachs Group Inc., there’s an ESG filter that tells investors to buy coal giant Glencore Plc, and avoid Big Tech staples Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc.

The filter is designed to pick stocks based on how much attention companies pay to recycling, waste management and the re-use of materials and products. The better they do, the higher they score on a metric called circularity. The approach, the latest example of the huge portfolio variations that investors face depending on the ESG screen they use, has shown it can beat the wider market over time, according to Goldman.

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Northern B.C. coal mine comes back to life after 24 years – by Hanna Petersen (CBC News British Columbia – September 09, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/

Company, mayor hope Quintette Mine will bring huge boost to Tumbler Ridge

After 24 years, a steel-making coal mine in northeastern B.C. has roared back to life. Last week, Conuma Resources received permits from the province giving it the green light to restart operations at a portion of the Quintette Mine, located 20 kilometres south of Tumbler Ridge.

“We were very excited to receive it,” said Conuma Resources CEO Brian Sullivan. “We’re going to spend upwards of $500 million bringing it back into production. It will have a permanent workforce of more than 400 permanent good paying jobs.”

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Poland Seeks to Rethink, Not Quash Coal Spin-Offs, Minister Says – by Maciej Martewicz (Bloomberg News – September 3, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Poland is seeking to amend plans for utilities to spin off their coal assets, according to the minister in charge of managing state assets.

The European Union’s most coal-dependent nation has struggled with its energy transition, with the previous administration failing to complete a plan to separate the coal assets from utilities and move them to a separate entity — known as NABE — all in one go.

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From diamonds to coal – The tragedy of trade – by Nandkumar M Kamat (Navhind Times – November 22, 2020)

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The hand of history is sometimes cruel. After enjoying status as an international diamond trading hub, Goa is now concerned about turning into a major coal importing hub in Indo-Pacific. Since there is a lot of attention to coal in local public discourse, people have forgotten the position of Goa in a related commodity- diamonds. Diamond and coal offer stark contrasts.

Diamond and coal are allotropes of carbon. Diamond is defined as a glimmering glass-like mineral that is an allotrope of carbon in which each atom is surrounded by four others in the form of a tetrahedron. Coal is defined as a black rock formed from prehistoric plant remains, composed largely of carbon and burned as a fuel.

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US Coal Miner Consol to Buy Arch Resources for $2.3 Billion – by Christine Buurma and David Carnevali (Bloomberg News – August 21, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — US coal producer Arch Resources Inc. agreed to merge with rival Consol Energy Inc. in a $2.3 billion deal aimed at creating a North American mining heavyweight to deliver the fuel around the world.

The companies announced the transaction in a statement Wednesday after the deal talks were reported earlier by Bloomberg. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Arch stockholders will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 1.326 shares of Consol stock for each share of Arch common stock. Consol shareholders will own about 55% of the combined company, to be called Core Natural Resources.

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