In last month’s column, I spotlighted the job losses of many gifted researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), many of which are key contributors to the future of mining more safely and with better health behaviors. The layoffs, triggered by governmental cuts from the DOGE program, also have included agencies such as the Mine Safety…
Read MoreAs we journey toward the center of the year (already?), it is a good time to take stock of some things, how we’re doing, and what’s going well – and not so well. So, when someone says, “You want the good news first, or the bad news?” I generally will choose the latter. Rip off the Band-Aid, then let’s figure…
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We hope you are reading this column on the sidelines of the West Virginia Coal Show 2025 as you take in the vendors at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center in West Virginia’s capital city. If you are, we welcome you to our second-ever expo and hope you have a great event – if you find myself or any of…
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Call me a nerd, but I like to stay abreast of artificial intelligence’s speed of learning about the mining industry. In hopes of getting some creative inspiration for writing this month’s column, I decided to test AI by asking it what it thinks are the main themes and outlook of mining in North America and the world right now. While…
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The people have spoken, and this time it was those recently polled by Maru Public Opinion on behalf of the National Mining Association (NMA). The results of the group’s canvass are an echo of what an overwhelming balance of the mining industry are likely feeling at the moment: it’s time for overregulation to end and for support of domestic mining…
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It has arrived – the end of 2024. It has been quite a year for mining and the nation. As we set our sights on 2025 with optimism, as well as a new American leader in the returning energy-friendly president Donald Trump, we can pick up the pen to begin charting the nation’s new chapter. NAM has its sights set…
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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m an optimist. I’m of the belief that, if you want a positive outcome, an optimistic attitude is the bare minimum requirement to see it through. In this industry, and many others with tides like it, it just makes sense to keep that in mind, even if sometimes it sits in…
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At the risk of sounding cliché, this year seems to have flown by. If you are one of the many readers of NAM taking in this column in Las Vegas for MINExpo International 2024, this serves as your reminder that the final quarter of the calendar year starts the week following the show. Time for projects to tie up loose…
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It’s true: There’s no real definition of a “normal day” in mining anymore. Operators now worry about so many more factors than they used to – how to power equipment more efficiently, how to reduce the mine’s footprint, how to save even more money and, of course, how to continue a journey of constant improvement overall. This is all while…
Read MoreIn the very hours I write this column, the American mining community is marking Stand Down to Save Lives, an annual initiative called by federal regulators to bring attention to the need for eliminating safety and health hazards and mine sites. In its May 13 announcement of the May 22 effort MSHA noted that, at that time, 12 fewer miners…
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