In a rural Texas town, the constant hum of a bitcoin mine haunts residents

Aug 7, 2024
People have attributed symptoms from ringing ears to heart issues to the noise, Andrew Chow of Time explains.
Cryptocurrency mines are basically facilities that hold thousands of computers, which are cooled by fans.
Maxim Zmeyev/AFP via Getty Images

Black workers are paying the price in the rush to mine cobalt

Jun 13, 2024
Black labor unions in the U.S. are building solidarity with exploited DRC miners, says reporter Adam Mahoney of Capital B.
Dela wa Monga, an artisanal miner, holds a cobalt stone at a mine in Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of Congo in 2022.
Junior Kannah/AFP via Getty Images

More mining is needed for the energy transition. It's also a threat.

In his book "The War Below," Ernest Scheyder explores the tension between intrusive mining and powering our energy transition.
"Are there some places too special to mine? And if we decide to have mining, what are the standards by which we would allow mining in those places?" asks writer Ernest Scheyder.
Martin Bernetti/AFP via Getty Images

Biden wants minerals for electric vehicles mined in the U.S.

Apr 4, 2022
The White House invoked the Defense Production Act to foot the bill for mining feasibility studies.
Key parts of electric vehicle batteries utilize nickel and cobalt, which typically come from Russia, China and other countries. Biden now wants to boost domestic supplies of the minerals.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The renewable energy transition has companies looking out to sea

Sep 27, 2021
Nodules on the ocean floor are rich in cobalt, nickel, manganese and copper. But deep-sea mining has raised environmental concerns.
Courtesy of GSR

Lithium may fuel a mining revival in England's Cornwall

Oct 19, 2020
Tin mining in Cornwall ground to a halt more than 20 years ago. Now the county has discovered what may be a rich new source of underground wealth.
The harbor at Mullion Cove, Cornwall, United Kingdom.
Hugh R Hastings/Getty Images

Murray Energy is the latest coal mining firm to declare bankruptcy

Oct 29, 2019
The decline in coal-fired power plants began with older facilities about a decade ago. Now even younger plants are being retired.

For public good, not for profit.

Trump's Greenland interest throws mining into focus

Aug 22, 2019
Greenland might not be for sale, but it is open for business. And that could mean a boom for its mining industry.
Nuuk Harbour, Nuuk, the capital of Greenland.
Martin Zwick/Getty Images

In Houston, a growing debate about flooding and sand mining

Dec 31, 2018
In business-friendly Texas, lawmakers could crack down on sand mines amid flooding concerns.
Excavators dig massive pits at the River Aggregates sand mine near Houston, Texas.
Travis Bubenik for Marketplace

Why Western tech companies want more control over minerals in Africa

Modern electronics rely heavily on one thing: lithium ion batteries. With carmakers gearing up to increase electric vehicle production, the demand for lithium ion batteries doesn’t appear to be slowing down. These batteries rely on an increasingly important supply of the metal cobalt. Most cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Central […]