Mining is the extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agricultural processes, or feasibly created artificially in a laboratory or factory. Ores recovered by mining include metals, coal, oil shale, gemstones, limestone, chalk, dimension stone, rock salt, potash, gravel, and clay. The ore must be a rock or mineral that contains valuable constituent, can be extracted or mined and sold for profit. Mining in a wider sense includes extraction of any non-renewable resource such as petroleum, natural gas, or even water.
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United Kingdom and South Africa, a coal mine and its structures are a colliery, a coal mine is called a "pit", and above-ground mining structures are referred to as a "pit head". In Australia, "colliery" generally refers to an underground coal mine.
Camborne is a town in Cornwall, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 20,845. The northern edge of the parish includes a section of the South West Coast Path, Hell's Mouth and Deadman's Cove.
The history of coal mining goes back thousands of years, with early mines documented in ancient China, the Roman Empire and other early historical economies. It became important in the Industrial Revolution of the 19th and 20th centuries, when it was primarily used to power steam engines, heat buildings and generate electricity. Coal mining continues as an important economic activity today, but has begun to decline due to the strong contribution coal plays in global warming and environmental issues, which result in decreasing demand and in some geographies, peak coal.
Drift mining is either the mining of an ore deposit by underground methods, or the working of coal seams accessed by adits driven into the surface outcrop of the coal bed. A drift mine is an underground mine in which the entry or access is above water level and generally on the slope of a hill, driven horizontally into the ore seam.
Arigna is a village in the far north of County Roscommon in the west of Ireland. It is near Lough Allen, on a designated scenic route between Keadue and Sliabh an Iarainn. Arigna is situated in Kilronan parish, along with the villages of Keadue and Ballyfarnon. The area has a long association with the coal mining industry, carried out for over 400 years until the mines closed in 1990.
Camborne School of Mines, commonly abbreviated to CSM, was founded in 1888. Its research and teaching is related to the understanding and management of the Earth's natural processes, resources and the environment. It has undergraduate, postgraduate and research degree programmes within the Earth resources, civil engineering and environmental sectors. CSM is located at the Penryn Campus, near Falmouth, Cornwall, UK. The school merged with the University of Exeter in 1993.
The Mining Association of the United Kingdom is a trade association for all kinds of mining undertaken by UK companies.
The Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society is an educational, cultural and scientific charity, as well as a local arts and cinema venue, based in Falmouth, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The Society exists to promote innovation in the arts and sciences.
Dolcoath mine was a copper and tin mine in Camborne, Cornwall, United Kingdom. Its name derives from the Cornish for 'Old Ground', and it was also affectionately known as The Queen of Cornish Mines. The site is north-west of Carn Brea. Dolcoath Road runs between the A3047 road and Chapel Hill. The site is south of this road.
The economy of Cornwall in South West England is largely dependent upon agriculture, followed by tourism. Cornwall is one of the poorest areas in the United Kingdom with a GVA of 70.9% of the national average in 2015. It is one of four areas in the UK that qualified for poverty-related grants from the EU. Farming and food processing contributed £366 million to the county's economy in 2006, equal to 5.3% of Cornwall's total GVA. The agriculture industry in Cornwall employed 9,500 people as of 2011. 23,700 more were employed in the food industry in Cornwall. The Cornish economy also depends heavily on its successful tourist industry, which contributes 12% of Cornwall's GDP and supports about 1 in 5 jobs. Tourism contributed £1.85 billion to the Cornish economy in 2011.
Foo Choo Choon, a Hakka tin miner, revenue farmer and businessman from Penang and Perak was, in his time, said to have been the richest Chinese man in the world.
Wheal Coates is a former tin mine situated on the north coast of Cornwall, UK, on the cliff tops between Porthtowan and St Agnes. It is preserved and maintained by the National Trust.
Coal mining in the United Kingdom dates back to Roman times and occurred in many different parts of the country. Britain's coalfields are associated with Northumberland and Durham, North and South Wales, Yorkshire, the Scottish Central Belt, Lancashire, Cumbria, the East and West Midlands and Kent. After 1972, coal mining quickly collapsed and had practically disappeared by the 21st century. The consumption of coal—mostly for electricity—fell from 157 million tonnes in 1970 to 587,000 tonnes in 2023 Employment in coal mines fell from a peak of 1,191,000 in 1920 to 695,000 in 1956, 247,000 in 1976, 44,000 in 1993, 2,000 in 2015, and to 360 in 2022.
Suetonius Grant Heatly was a judge employed by the British East India Company and, with John Sumner, established what is considered to be the first coal mine in India.
Losh, Wilson and Bell, later Bells, Goodman, then Bells, Lightfoot and finally Bell Brothers, was a leading Northeast England manufacturing company, founded in 1809 by the partners William Losh, Thomas Wilson, and Thomas Bell.
In the mid-19th century, Colorado Springs was a center of mining industry activity. Coal was mined in 50 mines in the area and towns, now annexed to Colorado Springs, were established to support residents of the coal mining industry.
Anglovaal Group was one of six large South African holding conglomerates that had interests in mining, finance and industry. It was formed in 1933 as the Anglo-Transvaal Consolidated Investment Company Limited with interests initially in mining. In 1981, it became Anglovaal Limited. It was majority owned throughout its existence by the Hersov and Menell families. In the late 1990s, it would form into two separate companies, Anglovaal Industrial Holdings (AVI) and Anglovaal Minerals (Avmin). As a family owned business, all family interests were to be diluted by 2001. By 2003, Anglovaal Minerals became part of African Rainbow Minerals Limited, a listed black empowerment company.
Selection Trust was a British mining finance house. It was started in 1913 by A. Chester Beatty, a mining engineer from the United States. After the end of the First World War, Beatty built up a substantial portfolio of mining interests, many of them in Africa, but others in Serbia and in Siberia. Initially the company began operations by sharing an office at Number One London Wall in the City of London with the consulting firm of Herbert Hoover, a fellow American mining engineer.
Karen A. Hudson-Edwards is a Canadian mineralogist and geochemist. She is Professor for Sustainable Mining jointly between the Camborne School of Mines and Environment & Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter.
