Don't miss "Best in the West!"
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Being held April 18-20, the 25th Annual 'Best in the West' conference brings together mining companies, drilling and blasting suppliers, and government agencies. The focus is innovation, safety, and government regulation. Over the years, the conference has grown to include over 300 registrants and dozens of vendors. Excellent fundraisers to be held this year are: The Bob Martin Memorial Golf Scramble and The Paul Meuhl Memorial Clay shoot. The highlight of the Best in the West conference is the scholarship benefit auction. Credit hours will be able to be received for Blaster Recertification through regulatory and technical sessions for Blasters in the states of Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky. For more information or to register, click here or email Brad Brown. More

MSHA reorganizes to centralize oversight of assessments, accountability programs
MSHA
The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration announced a reorganization designed to centralize its oversight of certain cross-cutting, compliance-related actions. MSHA's Office of Assessments, Accountability, Special Enforcement and Investigations will incorporate the management, support and coordination of both routine and special assessments, as well as agency headquarters accountability functions and special enforcement strategies. More

Fundamentals of Explosives: May 1-3, 2012
University of Rhode Island Chemistry Department
This course examines the chemistry of explosives, the physics of detonation waves and their initiation, and the issues involved in safe handling and characterizing these. Explosive output and coupling to surroundings, with specific application to structural response, will be discussed. The course will address terrorist bombings, the gathering, analysis and interpretation of evidence, improvised explosives, and explosive detection. Lecturers are internationally known experts. More

A forgotten intersection
Telluride Daily Planet
In a few months, CDOT crews will begin construction on a road widening and bridge replacement project at the corner of Highways 145 and 62 near Placerville, Colo. These days, the corner - known at the state historic preservation office as Chrysler Corner - isn't much to look at. A pair of red rock cliffs stand sentinel over a heap of derelict buildings and overgrowth that hasn’t seen much human activity in decades. More

Explosives still rock Schuylkill mine operations in Pennsylvania
Republican Herald
At 10:20 a.m. Jan. 31, residents of Silverton, a village in Branch Township, Pa., were shaken by an explosion. "We must have had about 10 calls on it," John M. Matz, Schuylkill County emergency management coordinator, said. It originated from the Selkirk Mining site, and should not have been an unusual occurrence, according to Colleen Connolly, environmental community relations specialist for the state Department of Environmental Protection Northeast Regional Office, Wilkes-Barre. More

Report on Vancouver Island explosion criticizes blasting company
The Vancouver Sun
A report released by British Columbia's Ministry of Mines paints a picture as to what went wrong when three people were struck by flying rocks after a disastrous explosion at a Shawnigan Lake blasting company in September. One woman lost an arm and two men were hit on the head with rocks that flew more than 300 meters after the blast at Mid-Island Aggregates on the afternoon of Sept. 20, 2011. More

Ohio attorney general seeks tougher drilling laws
The Associated Press via CBS News
Ohio's top law enforcer says tougher environmental sanctions on polluters in the oil and gas industry and required disclosure of the chemicals used in the drilling technique called fracking are needed to adequately protect residents as shale exploration burgeons in the state. More

Expert: Rock wall is 'stable' at Millington Quarry in New Jersey
Patch
A geologist representing Millington Quarry told the Township Planning Board that rock faces alongside a proposed 50-acre lake and possible future residential neighborhood on the quarry land are "stable." More

Explosive waste contract from US Army
Waste Management World
The Shaw Group has been awarded an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract to provide global rapid response services to remediate sites contaminated with hazardous, toxic and radioactive waste or explosives for the U.S. Army. More

Farmland holds wealth in sand mining boom
MPR News
Minnesota farmland is increasingly luring companies that want to explore the earth beneath the soil. But some residents want to preserve the land and its current agricultural use. More

Nordex Explosives Ltd. announces first closing of financing
Canadian Mining Journal
Nordex Explosives Ltd. is pleased to announce that it has closed the first tranche of its previously announced private placement offering with All Group Financial Services Inc. Nordex issued 987,500 common shares at a price of $0.40 per share for gross proceeds to the Company of $395,000. It is currently anticipated that a further closing or closings will be completed during February 2012 under the Offering.More

How the latest scandal at explosives-maker Hanwha highlights broader investment risks at major Korean companies
Forbes
Even though he was convicted of kidnapping and assault, the board at Hanwha Group, a Korean conglomerate that makes explosives and chemicals, did not ask its chairman, Kim Seung-youn to retire, a move that might have helped the company avoid damaging its brand. More