Columbia Steel Celebrates National Miners Day
National Miners Day marks the anniversary of America’s deadliest mining disaster, the December 6th, 1907 Monongah, West Virginia coal mine explosion that killed 362 workers. In 2009, Congress officially set aside the day to recognize the contributions miners make to our lives in the face of significant personal risk. Today, Columbia Steel joins the rest of the world in saying “thank you” to these hard-working Americans who make our lives so much better.
Vital Natural Resources
Humans first began mining gold in ancient Egypt thousands of years ago, and the process remains as essential today as ever. When most Americans think of mining, they probably picture historical images of coal miners. However, you might be surprised to learn how many mined products the average person uses every day.
Mining Supports Our Daily Lives
Statistics provided by the National Mining Association show how these materials play a critical role in our lives.
> Every American uses 40,000 pounds of newly mined material every year.
> The average computer uses 66 different mined minerals.
> It takes 29 minerals to deliver electricity to our grid.
> The U.S. National Highway System uses six billion tons of steel.
> The average American home contains 439 pounds of copper.
Mining Helps Power a Cleaner Future
The same statistics show how vital mined materials are in creating clean energy solutions.
> A single wind turbine requires 4.7 tons of copper.
> Solar panel construction accounts for 7% of the world’s silver production.
> Uranium-powered nuclear power plants generate 19% of the country’s energy.
The Mining Industry Employs Millions
The materials powering these important benefits don’t just magically appear from thin air. Instead, workers from across the country process raw earth into its usable form. Taken together, coal and mineral mining activities provide jobs for more than 1.5 million Americans. So, not only does mining power our country, it supports millions of families nationwide. After examining the data, it becomes clear that mined materials are every bit as critical as the natural resources we grow or catch.
Columbia Steel Provides Critical Components Miners Use
Columbia Steel has manufactured the custom wear parts the mining industry relies on to accomplish their tough work throughout our long history. Thanks to our unique processes and superior materials, our replacement parts often perform better than the original replacement parts.
For example, we manufacture dragline rigging for nearly every dragline used in surface mining of coal and rock. That includes chain, dragline rigging packages, bucket components, dump blocks and more. Our team also makes replacement crusher wear parts for gyratory, cone, jaw, hammer mill, impact and roll machinery.
In many cases, our engineers can conduct customized digital scanning that examines our customer’s machinery to determine where the heaviest wear occurs. Then our team creates replacement parts from start to finish designed to better protect against that wear. When we succeed, our customers enjoy improved performance from their expensive machinery and have to replace parts less often—helping both the bottom line and the environment.
Partners in Mining Success
The Columbia Steel team will spend National Miners Day reflecting on our colleagues’ efforts to bring mined material to market. We’re proud of their hard work and the role we play in supporting their efforts. If you’d like to learn more about our place in the mining supply chain, we’d love to talk. Contact us today at 800-547-9471, or get in touch with us online.