I am one of literally thousands of Kiwis currently based in or around Kalgoorlie, 700km east of Perth in Goldfields of Western Australia. I have now been here 3 and 1/2 months into what was originally going to be a 100 day challenge I had set myself. I was based in Wellington and was becoming frustrated with the lack of job opportunities and the amount of money I’d been offered. I had been introduced to the idea of working out here by a friend from school who along with four of his university friends had spent 6 months here last year. They were coming back and I decided this was the way to get some quick money together to begin my OE. The general consensus back home is that you need $10,000 to begin your OE so if you can save $200 a week this would take a year. I had been told that you can save that amount in 3 months here, so I thought why not. A couple of other friends based in Sydney had also decided to make the leap of faith and this further helped ease my fears. I quit my job, booked a flight and packed my bags with blind optimism that it would all work out. Having never really done a hard days labour in my life and not too many practical skills behind me I knew I was in for a testing time but I figured that if my Grandfather can go to war for 5 years as a young man, I can manage 100 days in the mines.

Arriving in Kambalda, 50km south of Kalgoorlie everything went like clockwork. I arrived late on a Sunday night, went down to the yard on a Monday morning to apply for a job, had a medical and signed a million forms that afternoon, completed the necessary mine site inductions on Tuesday and Wednesday and was out working on a drill rig on the Thursday. How life had changed so dramatically in the space of a week. By easter break 3 weeks later I had had just one day off and completed a 78 hour week in the process. I had hardly had time to take it all in. I was lucky in the fact that when I started there was 5 mates already here and within a month that number had swelled to 13. So here we were 13 guys from NZ all connected through each other through school or university working for the same exploration company, staying at the same camp and all working long, hard hours.

Everyone has their own reason to be here but the underlying fact is that money talks and we are in place we saving money is easily done. We are saving between $900 and $1300 a week as all food and accommodation is paid for by our company at the cost of $70 a night per head.

Discovery of Silver

For thousands of years the Broken Hill area had been home to the Willyama and Barkinji Aborigines. The British explorer, Charles Sturt, passed through the area in 1844, looking for a rumored inland sea. Pastoralists arrived in the 1850s and 1860s.

In 1883 a German-born boundary rider, Charles Rasp, took geological samples which were found to contain silver chloride. Rasp and a group of six others bought up much of the land of the Broken Hill area. In January 1885 they hit the jackpot and found the one of the world’s largest lodes of silver, lead and zinc. The ore body was an amazing 5 miles long. Rasp and his partners became fabulously wealthy. They founded the Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP) which was to become Australia’s largest company.

To transport the ore to the sea for shipment overseas, a railway line had to be built to the nearest sea port in Port Pirie, South Australia. A railway line was constructed by the South Australian government to the New South Wales border. When the New South Wales government refused to build a railway line from Broken Hill to join up with the South Australian line, the mining company built its own private line to the South Australian border. The working conditions of the miners were appalling for many years. Hundreds died in mining accidents and of diseases such as dysentry, typhoid and lung diseases. For this reason there was much worker unrest and many strikes, and a strong union movement developed in Broken Hill.

The visitor today can take a tour of one of the old mines, Delprat’s Mine. The tours last two hours and visitors don a miner’s helmet and light before descending the mineshaft in one of the miner’s cages. The streets themselves are further reminders of Broken Hill’s long mining history, with mining-related names such as Argent Street, Iodine Street, Bromide Street, Oxide Street and Cobalt Street.

Historic Buildings

Broken Hill has a rich heritage of magnificent buildings, many of which were built with the profits from the mining industry. Along Chloride Street several of these buildings form an interesting streetscape: the red-brick Post Office (1890), the elaborate Town Hall (1890), the Police Station (1890), the Federation style Technical College (1900) and the Court House (1889).

A number of hotels that used to serve the thirsty miners in past years are worthy of a visit — for example, the huge Palace Hotel (1889) with its long, cool verandahs and its cast-iron balustrades.

In Sulphide Street you can see the Trades Hall, the Mt. St Joseph’s Convent of Mercy, the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Cathedral and the Gothic revival Wesley Church.

Broken Hill also has Australia’s first mosque, the Afghani Mosque (1891), built for the Afghan and Indian camel drivers, who were brought to the area to help with the camels providing transport in desert places where horses could not go.

Art Galleries

Broken Hill is home to the Brushmen of the Bush school of artists that include such great and somewhat maverick artists as Pro Hart and Jack Absalom. These artists are mostly self-taught and are influenced in theme and technique by the bush surrounding the town. Many of the Brushmen of the Bush have their own galleries that welcome visits from the public.

Aboriginal art is featured in the innovative Thankakali Aboriginal Arts and Crafts Centre, and another great art collection may be viewed in the Broken Hill City and Art Gallery.

Unusual School and Medical Services

For many outback residents, such as those who live on wool and cattle stations (ranches) far from any city or town, life can be very isolated.

Two uniquely Australian services have been founded to help these people: the School of the Air, which offers outback students lessons by two-way radio, and the Royal Flying Doctor Service, whose small planes fly doctors and nurses to see patients on the stations and airlift any seriously ill people out.

Visitors are welcome to inspect both of these services.

Parks and Gardens

Broken Hill is often called an oasis in the desert. This is true. The town boasts some beautiful parks and leafy gardens such as Sturt Park and the Riddiford Arboretum. In the latter you see examples of the striking Sturt’s Desert Pea, the floral emblem of South Australia and also of Broken Hill.

The city is protected by a ring of greenery that completely surrounds the town and was established in 1936 to protect the town from sandstorms. The whole city now is guaranteed a permanent water supply to maintain its greenery, by a pipeline from the Menindee Lakes that was constructed in 1952.

Side Trips into the Outback

Broken Hill is the perfect base from which to explore the great Australian outback. The former mining town and now semi-ghost town of Silverton, located just 15 miles out of Broken Hill, is easy to reach and is popular not only with tourists but also with film makers. Movies such as Mad Max II and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert have been shot there. You can see a replica of Max Max’s V8 interceptor parked outside the Silverton Hotel.

Several national parks are located close to Broken Hill, including the Mootwingee National Park, a truly unique wilderness area that has been occupied by the Aboriginal people for 40,000 years. In Mootwingee there are many opportunities to experience Aboriginal culture and to see a wide variety of Australian wildlife, including red and grey kangaroos, euros (wallaroos), the rare yellow footed rock wallaby, and many birds.

If you have a little more time, you can visit Wilcannia on the Darling River and White Cliffs, an opal mining town where the locals avoid the extreme desert temperatures by living in underground houses.

Broken Hill – A Unique Experience

Broken Hill is not your typical tourist destination. Its main tourist attractions are its mines, its artists, its outback services, and its gardens standing in a stark contrast to the arid desert of the surrounding outback. Expect lots of dust, views of red and ochre, and heat. Expect to experience untamed nature and to meet tough but friendly locals. In short, a different and very unpackaged travel experience.

While all the major countries in the Western world were gripped by recession, Australia survived and even showed a slight growth. How was this possible? The answer is simple. It was mining.

The mining boom in Western Australia can be attributed as one of the determining factors that kept the economy afloat. What many people fail to recognize is that mining in itself did not save the economy. It needed and outlet and the outlet was largely due to Kevin Rudd’s relations with China. As one of the first world leaders to embrace the China revolution, it really paid with immense dividends.

Unfortunately for Kevin Rudd, this was also the nail in his coffin. As the economy started recovering and normalizing, Mr. Rudd and his financial team had to devise a plan to recover the economy and wipe out the deficit that was left by the economic crash. The introduction of an additional mining tax seemed like the obvious choice but it outraged the entire mining industry. So much so that it ended up forcing then prime minister Rudd’s own party to oust him in a move that outraged his supporters.

Also certain skills and trades are in more demand than others. Mothers and Fathers reading this should take some notes and direct your kid in the right directions when they are planning to leave school and enter the work force or university study. If your kid is not interested in university study and wants to leave school get them into a training scheme with a company that will give them a trade after a few years that will in return earn them over 100,000 a year and only working two thirds of the year in the mining industry in Australia. Also university study can be planned and the end result will be more rewarding. Students with a Mining Engineering Degree’s are getting snapped up quicker than they are being graduated. There is an 18% vacancy rate in this area and top students are getting sign on agreements of up to 10,000 dollars like sporting super stars with some of the large mining companies in Australia as well as a 100,000 starting off salary.

Getting back to relevant experience; Mining companies want to hire people that have done the particular job back in the cities and are passionate about their job. Its costs a lot hiring a person, and putting the person through the inductions fully paid and then ongoing training, the last thing they want is the person to quit their job after a few weeks.

A lot of people tell me they have an HR and want to drive trucks? But they don’t have any experience driving trucks in the city let alone on a mine site. Agencies won’t even look at your application if you don’t have mining experience of 2-3 years. A lot of their positions are fly in fly out and are filling a vacancy that is important for production to run properly. If production is not running efficiently, it’s going to costs the company money. A lot of the big companies don’t have time to train people on the job site any more. This is the same with people wanting to enter the industry as a cleaner on a mining camp. The hiring companies want people are experience in this field as its costs them a lot to train people and put them through inductions. If people have several years experience in this field, it shows the company they are passionate about this job as they want people that are going to stay with them for a long time and are not just using a cleaning job in a mining camp to gain a dump truck job. This is a big NO for the hiring cleaning companies in the mining industry and they have tough interview procedures to stop people entering the cleaning industry with the intention of fining a dump truck job.

The way the mines are going you want 2 -3 years experience in a field in your civilian career. If you want a particular job in the mines its best to start now where you live and get some experience. Even if it means driving buses, it’s still related to driving trucks. Bus drivers make good dump truck drivers as they have to be safety conscious during the day which skill is wanted for dump truck drivers to have. This is the same for people that tell me they have driven a digger a few times in the past and planned to get a job driving a digger on a mine site. Hope you have good patience as if this is the only experience you have your going to be waiting for a while. Those diggers on the mine sites are a lot bigger 150 – 700 tonnes. These positions driving dump trucks and diggers are paid well and the employees climbing the company ladder will be getting these positions before you.

It may be easier to find a job with a small sub contractor company that has work on a mine site. They may not pay as much as the big mining companies but they are more likely to hire a person in your situation and this way you get that valuable mining experience.

A lot of the time is who you know in the mining industry, if you met the right people and make a good connection with them. It’s easy to find a job any field you like.

There are three job fields in the mining industry in Australia:

University educated mining jobs. Geologists, mine managers etc. Jobs that require university study as important part of the position.

Skilled Worked. Mechanics, wielders, Boiler makers, Drillers, Often requiring a trade or specific training.

Ticket required Jobs. Loader driving jobs, Truck driving, Road trains and dump trucks. Jobs often requiring tickets to show you’re skilled in driving particular machinery or vehicles.

It sometimes turns into a cache 22 situation. The companies only want to hire experience people but how do you get that experience if they don’t take new comers to the industry on. Answer; 1) Use your friends if you have any that are working in the mines. 2) Some companies run programs in participation with training institutions in the cities where if selected after a 1hour interview you can do one of there courses and then they help you get a job. These organizations can charge up to 4000 dollars and some applicants have waited 4 months for a position. This is very common for the people entering the industry wanting to drive dump trucks. 3) The last option is to take up another position in the mines which provides easy and quick access to get that “mining experience” that companies want. It may not be a position that you want to do for the rest of your life, but it’s a position that pays wells and will open the world to the lucrative mining industry.

Data mining requires the use of mathematical algorithms and statistical techniques integrated with software tools. The final product is an easy-to-use software package that can be used even by non-mathematicians to effectively analyze the data they have. Data Mining is used in several applications like market research, consumer behavior, direct marketing, bioinformatics, genetics, text analysis, fraud detection, web site personalization, e-commerce, healthcare, customer relationship management, financial services and telecommunications.

Business intelligence data mining is used in market research, industry research, and for competitor analysis. It has applications in major industries like direct marketing, e-commerce, customer relationship management, healthcare, the oil and gas industry, scientific tests, genetics, telecommunications, financial services and utilities. BI uses various technologies like data mining, scorecarding, data warehouses, text mining, decision support systems, executive information systems, management information systems and geographic information systems for analyzing useful information for business decision making.

Business intelligence is a broader arena of decision-making that uses data mining as one of the tools. In fact, the use of data mining in BI makes the data more relevant in application. There are several kinds of data mining: text mining, web mining, social networks data mining, relational databases, pictorial data mining, audio data mining and video data mining, that are all used in business intelligence applications.

Some data mining tools used in BI are: decision trees, information gain, probability, probability density functions, Gaussians, maximum likelihood estimation, Gaussian Baves classification, cross-validation, neural networks, instance-based learning /case-based/ memory-based/non-parametric, regression algorithms, Bayesian networks, Gaussian mixture models, K-means and hierarchical clustering, Markov models and so on.

For instance, it’s very important have mining operations within a close proximity to the industries that will be using those materials in manufacturing. If we are going to build cars in Detroit, but the metal to make the parts comes from iron ore mines in China, then there is a lot of shipping that goes on, which adds costs to the vehicle which is produced. If we were selling cars in China we would want to use metal produced in that country to make the cars there to be sold into those markets. Likewise in the United States we have shut down far too many iron ore mines, and through regulation, hostile unions, and litigious pursuit, we have prevented these mines from producing the abundance we need for industry.

It is often been said in the last couple years that we need a better manufacturing strategy and an overall industrial strategy in the United States. That’s very true, and to tie into that we also must make sure we have a strong energy policy as well. All of these things work hand-in-hand. If the energy costs are too high, that means the mining operations will also have high costs, and the manufacturing process will cost just that much more. Each time you add costs, you raise the price of the products you are producing, and therefore fewer Americans in the middle class can afford them.

Nevertheless, the consumer will never be left out of the picture and they will find a way to get what they need. And entrepreneurs realizing this will find a way to get those products that they desire, even if they have to be made in another country, or imported at lower cost. Many believe that it is unscrupulous corporations trying to pay lower wages that drives American companies overseas. But I would submit to you that what really started it was not necessarily the low wages, although that is a consideration, but rather the over regulation of industry at all levels of the supply chain.

We attacked our industrial base, our manufacturing industry, and our mining sector, and today we are paying the price. No company wants to go to a foreign country and build a manufacturing facility and set up shop there, as there is more risk involved, but when the costs are so low compared to what it takes to do business in the United States with the abundance of regulation, lawsuits, and hostile unions, they have no choice. It’s time to stop blaming China for trashing our manufacturing sector and look in our own mirrors (beers). And I believe that starts with the Democrats, that’s where I place the blame squarely. Indeed, I hope you’ll please consider all this.

Apart from taxation, the way that mining is regulated in Australia is largely through the related legislation of the different states of Australia being Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the other territories of Australia. There is environmental regulation at the federal level requiring that most mine sites submit environmental impact statements when they are in the planning and construction phase of mine operations. There are also systems of environmental regulation at state level. An example of this is the New South Wales Environmental Defenders Office which will in fact prosecute mines which do not comply with the legislation such as the contaminated lands act. This can be an issue with a mine site which has a significant tailings damn that has toxic substances in it. The largely state based system of regulation in relation to mining it largely a product of the constitutional position of the Australian Federation.

There is no specific power in the Australia Constitution for the Australian Federal Government to make law with respect to mining and some of the legislation which does regulate this industry has been justified under the incidental power or left to the states which have plenary power in relation to their respective territories. Like any large business, there are naturally a very large number of regulations surrounding the operation of the business like occupational health and safety, Mine Saftey regulation, mining leasehold law, mineral title law, employment and industrial relations law as well as many others. In order to obtain specific information about these aspects of the law, further research is required.

Legislative History

Coal mining was brought under the public sector between 1971- 1973 with the passing of the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973. Nationalisation was done in 2 phases; the first with coking coal mines (by The Coking Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1972, under which coking coal mines and coke oven plants other than those with the Tata Iron & Steel Company Limited and Indian Iron & Steel Company Limited, were nationalised in May, 1972) and then with non-coking coal mines in 1973, with the enactment of the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973 (hereafter the “1973 Act”), which continues to be the Central legislation determining the eligibility of coal mining in India. The 1973 Act categorically states that “no person, other than the central government or a government company or a corporation owned, managed or controlled by the Central Government shall carry on coal mining operation in India, in any form.”

India’s Coal Reserves

As a result of exploration carried out up to the depth of 1,200m, as on April 1 2009, India has estimated hard coal reserves of around 267.21 billion tonnes – one of the richest in the world, of which 105.82 billion tonnes are proven.

Nodal Authority

The Ministry of Coal has the overall responsibility of determining policies and strategies in respect of exploration and development of coal and lignite reserves and sanctioning of important projects. These key functions are exercised through its public sector undertakings, namely, Coal India Limited (“CIL”) and Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited (“NLC”) and Singareni Collieries Company Limited (“SSCL”).

Coal India Limited

The Coal Mines Authority Ltd. (“CMAL”) was set up in 1973 to operate the nationalised non-coking coal mines. In September 1975, the nationalised coal industry was restructured with the establishment of CIL. CIL now has eight subsidiary companies. At present, with its monopolistic position, CIL accounts for 85% of coal production, followed by SCCL (8.5%), and captive producers (6.5%).

Private Sector Investment

The 1973 Act was amended in 1976 terminating all mining leases on coal held by private lessees to allow (a) captive mining by private companies engaged in the production of iron and steel, and (b) sub-leasing to private parties of isolated small pockets not amenable to economic development and not requiring rail transport.

In 1993, the 1973 Act was further amended to allow captive coal mining in the private sector for power generation, washing of coal obtained from a mine and such other end uses as notified by the Central Government from time to time. Coal gasification and coal liquefaction have also been notified as specified end uses.

In March 1996, the Central Government allowed captive mining of coal for production of cement. The restriction of captive mining does not apply to state-owned coal mineral development undertakings. Commercial coal sales can legally only be undertaken by and through public sector coal companies (and their subsidiaries) and coal produced from captive mines by the private sector cannot be sold on the open market.

In February 1997, the cabinet approved a proposal to amend the 1973 Act to allow non-captive coal mining, which met with stiff opposition from trade unions, who expressed concerns that pre-nationalization ills like unscientific mining practices, environmental degradation and labour exploitation, would re-occur. Due to this, it took at least three years for the Bill to be re-formulated after taking care of the concerns of the trade unions, and it was introduced in Parliament in 2000. The Bill is, however, yet to be passed.

Foreign Direct Investment

Currently, foreign direct investment has been allowed upto 100% under the automatic route as follows:

* Coal and lignite mining for captive consumption by power projects, iron, steel and cement units and other eligible activities permitted under and subject to provisions of the 1973 Act;
* Setting up coal processing plantslike washeries subject to thecondition that the Indian company will notundertake coal mining and will not sellwashed coal or sized coal from itscoal processing plants in the openmarket. In addition, the Indian company will supply the washedor sized coal to those entities who aresupplying raw coal to coal processing plants for washing or sizing.

Allocation of Coal Blocks

Under the existing provisions of the 1973 Act, coal blocks for captive mining are allocated to public/private companies engaged inmanufacture of iron and steel, generation of power, coal washery and production of cement. Allocationof captive mining blocks is decided by an inter ministerial and inter governmental body known as the Screening Committee, headed by the Secretary,Ministry of Coal. Though there are detailed guidelines for the allocation of coal blocks (as well as for blocks for underground coal gasification mines), it is now proposed to introduce an auction based system through competitive bidding as a selection process for allocation of coal blocks for mining for captive consumption.

As on December 31, 2009, the Ministry of Coal has effectively allocated 208 coal blocks, of which 84 coal blocks have been allocated to the power sector. So far production has commenced in only 25 blocks.

Under the captive dispensation framework, a company engaged in specific end use, viz. power, cement, washery, steel, etc. can apply for allocation of a captive coal block. Further, acompany(ies) engaged in any of the approved end-uses can mine coal from a captive block through an associated coal company formed with the sole objective of mining coal and supplying the coal on exclusive basis from the captive coal block to the end-user company(ies), provided the end-user company(ies) has at least 26% equity ownership in the associated coal company at all times. In addition, there can be a holding company with two subsidiaries, i.e., (i) a company engaged in any of the approved end-uses, and (ii) an associated coal company formed with the sole objective of mining coal and supplying the coal on exclusive basis from the captive coal block to the end-user company, provided the holding company has at least 26% equity ownership in both the end-user company and the associated coal company. Thus, in view of the permitted ownership structures, investors may consider several collaborative options and strategies within the guidelines.

General Conditions of Allocation

Coal blocks are generally awarded subject to compliance with several conditions including that:

* the allocation is made to meet the coal requirement of the permitted end use project, and is meant for captive use in the allocate company’s own specified end use projects or that of associates/end use company(ies) in case of a mining company.
* coal production from the captive blocks is required to commence within 36 months (42 months in case the area falls under forest land) of the date of allocation in opencast mine and in 48 months (54 months in case the area falls under forest land) from the date of allocation in underground mine.
* in respect of fully explored blocks, the allocatee company will need to buy the geological report from the Central Mine Planning & Design Institute Limited within 6 weeks of the date of allocation.In respect of an unexplored block, the allocattee company will need to apply for a prospecting license within 3 months of the date of issue of allotment. Exploration would need to be completed and geological report prepared within 2 years from the date of issue of prospecting license.
* in respect of explored blocks, the allocatee company would need to submit a mining plan for approval within six months.In respect of unexplored blocks, the mining plan should be submitted for approval within two years and six months from the date of issue of the letter of allocation.
* The allocate company would also have to make its own arrangement for transportation of coal mined.

In addition to the above, the allocate company would need to approach the Central Government/concerned State Government for necessary permissions/clearances, etc., for attaining mining rights and related matters (for example, environmental clearance, forest clearance, land acquisition, etc.), a process that could take between 2 to 5 years. While building a coal mine and the accompanying infrastructure is indeed a time-consuming process, it should however be borne in mind that normative timelines for commissioning of coal blocks are far higher in India compared to international benchmarks as approvals are required at multiple stages from various agencies. The Government is considering a slew of measures and reforms to combat this, with the objective of giving faster approval to coal projects (including providing alternative coal blocks to projects that do not get environmental clearance).

It is to be noted that the Central Government periodically monitors and reviews the development of allocated blocks as well as end use plants by coal companies. Wherever delays are noticed, show cause notices for de-allocation or advisories are issued to the coal companies cautioning them to bring the coal blocks into production as per the guidelines and milestones chart. Allocation/mining lease of the coal block may be cancelled, inter-alia, if it is determined that progress of coal mining project or implementation of specified end uses is unsatisfactory, or breach of any conditions of allocation.

Mining lease

The allocatee company will be required to obtain a coal mining lease from the concerned State Governments under the Mines and Minerals (Regulation & Development) Act, 1957. State Governments can grant coal mining leases only with the previous approval of the Central Government. Before the approval of the Central Government is accorded, the allocatee mining company is required to get its mining plan for the proposed coal mining area approved from the Central Government. Coal mining leases are now granted for 20-30 years initially and can be renewed for a further period of 20 years with the previous approval of the Central Government. Coal mining leases are ordinarily subject to a ceiling of 10 sq. kms. of area.

Conclusion

India has large reserves of coal suitable for thermal power generation and metal manufacturing. Several ultra mega power plants are planned over the next five years, which could utilise over 40 MMT per annum of coal. The coal sector is expected to grow rapidly, driven by the increasing gap between power supply and demand due to rapid economic growth. There is also a need for investments in improved technology, higher production and better productivity at existing mines, as also the need to explore and develop new coal mines. Considering the limited reserve potential of other fossil fuel energy sources and the fact that development of renewable energy sources are still a distant goal, coal continues to be vital to India’s energy needs. The Planning Commission of India recently stated that coal will remain the most viable fuel for driving sustained economic growth over the next 25 years – a fact strongly reinforced by the hugely successful recent public offering of CIL, the biggest IPO in India till date.

Coal mining can be a very dangerous activity most especially when it involves mining underground. Gases produced can be very toxic or highly flammable, capable of explosions which can instantly kill a team of miners. Fortunately, technology has enabled companies the capacity to effectively protect their workers from the hazards of coal mining. But not only that, they can also do the same or even higher output even with significantly less number or workers.

Coal mining can involve mining underground by shaft mining or, for a more accessible and easier way, open pit mining the rock strata coal beds or coal seams. However, there are several other ways in coal mining.

Coals near the surface can be extracted by using open cut mining methods. Explosives are first used to break through the surface of the mining area and after which it is removed by draglines or by shovel and a truck. With the coal seam exposed, drills are utilized to fracture and thoroughly mine it in strips. Area mining involves drilling holes against the surface of the mining area and then planting the drill holes with explosives. When the surface is exposed, there will be a coal seam exposed. This can be extracted, mined and transported with trucks immediately. If it is still hard enough, this can also be drilled and blasted with explosives. The coal can then be collected until there is none left in the strip – then the process can be repeated to create a new mining strip. This coal mining method is most ideal for flat terrain.

One particular coal mining method is controversial. This is the mountaintop removal mining – and just as its name says, it’s literally removing the mountain top, making the ridges and hill tops look like flattened plateaus. It is controversial because it drastically alters the topography as well as disturbing the ecosystem. Valleys will be filled the extracted prize and streams will be covered. The objective to coal mining was to extract these valuable energy sources, but is it really worth the damaging the environment or even risk worse consequences?

Although the Grosh brothers and Henry Comstock all had a stake in the claim, credit for the discovery at Gold Canyon is disputed, and legend has it that James Fennimore, also known as James “Old Virginny” Finney, was the discoverer of the Comstock Lode silver strike of 1859, which was the first significant United States unearthing of silver ore. Once the gold and silver strike was made public, prospectors journeyed from far and wide to the eastern slope of Mount Davidson hastening to stake their claims. Mount Davidson is the highest peak in the Virginia Range and forms the backdrop of Virginia City.

Located along State Route 341 in northwestern Nevada, Virginia City lies east of Lake Tahoe and is in close proximity to Carson City, Nevada’s state capitol. At one time, the population of the city increased to as many as 30,000 people, including the small surrounding towns of Gold Hill and Silver City. This growth occurred during the height of the “Big Bonanza”, the Mother Lode of the 1870′s when millions of dollars of gold and silver ore were being extracted from mine shafts at depths exceeding 3,000 feet.

In 1875, much of Virginia City was destroyed by the “Great Fire”. However, because of the affluence of the mining industry, the town was quickly rebuilt in approximately eighteen months, and the hotels, opera houses, banks and other merchant businesses were once again restored and put back in operation.

Instant wealth was acquired for many inhabitants during the boisterous gold and silver mining times of the town, but when the Comstock Lode epoch dissipated at the latter part of the nineteenth century, the population declined sharply, indicating the boom age of the once prosperous town had come to an end. By the mid 1950′s, Virginia City’s population had fallen to approximately 500 people.

Presently, the population has risen to about 1200 people, and although the mining activity is minimal, the economic base of this historic town has shifted to tourism, bolstering over two million visitors each year. The preservation of the buildings and artifacts provide visitors with an unadulterated Victorian-era experience, and with today’s overwhelming tourist interest, it has enabled Virginia City to thrive again as it once did in the explosive days of the 1800′s.

Because of the great prosperity that was obtained during the bustling years of the Comstock Lode silver strike, Virginia City was called “The Richest Place on Earth”. Although the presence of gold and silver has diminished in the hills of this famous ghost town, Virginia City still remains rich in history and folklore. The present-day historic saloons, underground mines, regal mansions and cemeteries all offer a glimpse of the town’s momentous past. With such renown and magnetism, this historic landmark lures visitors unlike any other, exemplifying that Virginia City has rightly earned its place in history.