Features - North American Mining Magazine

Green vibrations: rethinking drill and blast for a cleaner future

December 4, 2025December 4, 2025 Jonathan Rowland

Adjustments to drill-and-blast practices can deliver improvements that cascade throughout the entire value stream. Photo: Dyno Nobel

Innovation in surface drill and blast operations is delivering measurable improvements in environmental performance, operational efficiency, community impact, and personnel safety. by Jonathan Rowland As the mining industry intensifies its focus on sustainability, surface drill and blast practices are undergoing a shift. Once viewed primarily through the lens of productivity and cost-efficiency, innovation is helping to reimagine these operations as…

Mining 4.0

December 4, 2025December 4, 2025 Jonathan Rowland

Mining companies can achieve their goals by becoming digital enterprises, utilizing end-to-end solutions, such as Siemens Xcelerator, to enhance efficiency throughout the mining process. Photo: Siemens

With innovative, digital technologies proliferating in mining, an intelligent future beckons. by Jonathan Rowland The global pressures mining operations face will be familiar to readers of North American Mining. The increasing demand for critical minerals, along with diminishing ore grades, tightening environmental expectations, the need for safer workplaces and skilled personnel, and fluctuating commodity markets, all place demands on this…

A view from space

October 16, 2025October 16, 2025 NAM Staff

Data from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Landsat satellite program, managed in partnership with NASA, has helped shape the development of the Thacker Pass lithium project. For more than 50 years, Landsat, the satellite program managed by the U.S. Geological Survey and NASA, has provided continuous Earth observation data to support science-based decision-making, including mine planning in sensitive environments. A recent…

Black Butte Revival

October 16, 2025April 1, 2026 NAM Staff

Highwall mining at Black Butte, Pit 10. The new mine plan modification facilitates an extension of Pit 10 in its southeast corner of 50 acres and the development of a new pit (Pit 15) north of Pit 10 on 400 acres. Photo: Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

A mine plan modification will restore full-scale mining and prolong operations at the historic site through 2039. by Josephine Patterson The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) has approved a change in the mining plan for the Black Butte mine in Sweetwater County, Wyo., approximately 25 miles east of Rock Springs. The modification enables Black Butte Coal Co. to recover…

Keeping it local

October 16, 2025October 16, 2025 Sven Sven

How total conveyance and in-region manufacturing are simplifying product procurement, transportation and support by Sven Hlywiak The industrial sector is continually squeezed by unpredictable equipment downtimes, rising transportation costs, demand driven by projects in remote locations and various other logistical factors that are seemingly outside of their control. To help offset these challenges, both material handlers and conveying solution providers…

Gaining traction

October 16, 2025October 16, 2025 Harmen van Kamp Harmen van

GACW talks about cutting costs, reducing waste in OTR rubber tires. by Harmen van Kamp It is a billion-dollar problem: one of the toughest operational challenges for mining companies has long been the cost, safety risks, and environmental burden associated with off-the-road (OTR) rubber tires. Tires, fuel and payroll are the three largest expenses for mining companies. Tires wear out…

Worker-Centered Safety Training with Generative AI: A Case Study

October 16, 2025October 16, 2025 Joe McGuire

by Joseph P. McGuire, PhD, Emily J. Haas, PhD and Lucas Simpson, M.Ed., GSP Technological development and innovation across the industry show no signs of slowing, bringing to the forefront effective adoption and use. Regardless of the technologies that workers use in the workplace, the basic principles of human-centered design and integration have remained the same: involve workers early and…

It changes everything: zero-entry mining

October 16, 2025October 16, 2025 Jonathan Rowland

Teleremote systems, such as Hexagon TeleOP, enable operators to control heavy equipment from a safe distance.

In the early 1900s, horse manure threatened to inundate urban life. That problem wasn’t solved by upgrading the horse, but by shifting to a new mode of urban transport based around the latest technological innovation: the internal combustion engine. Is the mining industry about to go through its own paradigm-shifting experience? by Jonathan Rowland Zero-entry mining represents a radical departure…

Engineering value back into mining equipment

October 14, 2025October 14, 2025 Jonathan Rowland

Inspection is a critical part of the rebuild process. Pictured: Metso engineers inspect an AF SVS apron feeder.

In an industry where uptime is critical and capital investment is high, mining companies are increasingly turning to equipment rebuilds as a strategic alternative to replacement, offering a pathway to enhance asset life and performance, optimize operating and capital costs, and improve sustainability. by Jonathan Rowland Mining’s punishing workloads and extreme environments place significant strain on equipment. Rebuilds offer a…

FLS expands Tucson facility

September 24, 2025October 16, 2025 NAM Staff

FLS has completed one of its newest projects: adding a polyurethane manufacturing facility at its Tucson, Ariz., campus, positioning the site as a key global hub for the production of its advanced NexGen wear-resistant material. This development forms part of a wider modernization program by the company aimed at strengthening supply chains, increasing manufacturing efficiency and enhancing sustainability across its…