Special thanks to the seminal critical pedagogy journal Rethinking Schools for publishing a review of CME; after yesterday’s Huffington Post piece which looks at the book from an environmental/sustainability perspective, it was interesting to find this one today from an educational curriculum perspective. You can read the CME review, along with other great takes on recent Children’s Books, Educational Policy titles, and new volumes on Curriculum (including Howard Zinn’s A Young People’s Guide to the United States), here.

A miner has died after a tramming accident at Harmony Gold Mining’s Merriespruit 3 shaft – part of the Virginia Operations in the Free State. Management together with the Department of Mineral Resources have begun investigations into the cause of the accident. Harmony’s chief executive Graham Briggs and his management team expressed their sincere condolences to the family of the deceased.

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http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/20091130/miner-dies-at-harmonys-merriespruitshaft.htm

Big thanks to Jeff Biggers for including Coal Mountain Elementary in his recent Huffington Post end-of-the-year piece, “Climate Hope: Inspiring 2009 Books For A Clean Energy Future.” You can read through the complete list here. And you can learn more about Jeff and his important work, including The United States of Appalachia and No Lonesome Road: Selected Prose and Poems of Don West, here.

Jim Johnson was also kind enough to post a brief write-up of the book on his always engaging “(Notes on) Politics, Theory & Photography” blog. That one’s here. Thanks!

Rescue workers prepare to enter the well of Zhonghe coal mine after a flooding in Meihekou city, northeast China's Jilin Province Nov. 29, 2009. Sixteen miners are still trapped at the coal mine after a flood accident on Friday.(Xinhua/Wang Haofei)

CHANGCHUN, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) — Earth filling work in attempt to rescue 16 trapped miners in a flooded coal mine has been suspended in northeastern China’s Jilin province, as the site was in danger with a possible new cave-in, rescuers said Sunday. The flooding took place at about 1:55 p.m. Friday after a cave-in at Zhonghe Coal Mine in Meihekou city, trapping 16 miners underground.

Warning sign is seen at Zhonghe coal mine after a flooding in Meihekou city, northeast China's Jilin Province Nov. 29, 2009. Sixteen miners are still trapped at the coal mine after a flood accident on Friday.(Xinhua/Wang Haofei)

New crevices have emerged, which pointed to probability of a new cave-in at the accident site. This halted rescue work and rescuers are considering new measures to reach the trapped.

On Saturday, rescuers used about 10 excavators to fill the cave-in nearly one kilometer away from the mine entrance, aiming to prevent more water coming out of drift sand.

“The rescue is extremely difficult this time,” said Jia Changjiang, a coal mine rescue expert at the scene.

Among the trapped, 15 were local residents of Meihekou city and one native of Dongfeng county of Jilin.

The coal mine was licensed and run by the Zhonghe township with an annual capacity of 60,000 tonnes.

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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/29/content_12561040.htm

A worker died early Saturday morning when a large storage bin broke apart and buried him in potash ore at a Mosaic Company facility near Esterhazy, Sask. Another worker is in hospital with injuries from the accident, which took place around 2 a.m. Saturday. It was not known how serious the injuries were, but it was expected the worker would survive.

“A bin failed, and subsequently the potash poured out of it at that time,” Chandra Pratt, the human resources manager for Mosaic in Esterhazy, told CBC News.

The storage bin is located above ground and is associated with the Mosaic Company’s K2 potash mine. Esterhazy is about 225 kilometres east of Regina.

“Two of our employees were in the area at the time,” Pratt explained. “One worker was taken to hospital and the second worker unfortunately died at the scene.”

Pratt said both the workers involved are from Esterhazy area. Family members of the dead employee have been notified and are being assisted by a counsellor, Pratt said.

A family member who contacted CBC News said the man who died is Tom Merrit and he is married with two children. The family member did not have an exact age but thought Merrit was in his early 30s.

Pratt could not confirm the name of the man who died. “Our deepest sympathy goes out to the employee’s family and friends,” she said.

There was no information available on the identity of the injured worker.

Other workers rushed to help

Pratt said fellow workers on the overnight shift were nearby when the accident occurred and immediately rushed to the scene of the collapse.

“Their crew was quickly deployed at the time and quite quickly pulled the one worker out of the debris,” Pratt said. “Unfortunately, the other fellow wasn’t as easy to get to.”

The storage bins hold an estimated 800 tonnes of potash ore. The material is still in a raw form and is not yet processed.

When asked whether the company had ever had troubles with the bins before, Pratt said: “Not like this, no.”

The collapsed bin was one of several bins at the mine site. Pratt did not have an exact count.

“The RCMP and the provincial mine safety unit have been contacted, and they’re on site conducting an investigation,” Pratt said. “We’re at this point assisting them with the investigation and the cleanup.”

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http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2009/11/28/sk-mosaic-esterhazy-bin-collapse.html

Rescue workers is ready to take actions at a flooded coal mine in Meihekou city, northeast China's Jilin Province, Nov. 28, 2009. The accident took place at about 1:55 p.m. Friday at the coal mine run by the Zhonghe township, with 16 miners still trapped.(Xinhua/Lang Qiuhong)

CHANGCHUN, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) — Sixteen miners were trapped in a flooded coal mine in Meihekou city of northeast China’s Jilin Province, said the provincial government Saturday. Initial reports said 17 miners were trapped, but one of them was later found at home. The flooding took place at about 1:55 p.m. Friday after a cave-in. Rescuers said the water and mud inside the mine made the rescue work difficult. They were using about 10 excavators Saturday afternoon to fill the cave-in nearly one kilometer away from the mine entrance, aiming to prevent more water from coming out of drift sand. The cave-in was 12 meters deep and 20 meters in diameter. Song Wei who was in charge of the rescue operation said 3,000 cubic meters of earth were needed to fill it. Among the trapped 15 were local residents of Meihekou City and one native of Dongfeng county of Jilin. The coal mine was run by the Zhonghe township with an annual capacity of 60,000 tonnes.

Rescue workers fill the cave-in nearly one kilometer away from the entrance of a coal mine in Meihekou city, northeast China's Jilin Province, Nov. 28, 2009. The accident took place at about 1:55 p.m. Friday at the coal mine run by the Zhonghe township, with 16 miners still trapped.(Xinhua/Lang Qiuhong)

BEIJING — A gas explosion in a southwestern China coal mine killed nine people, state media said Friday, the latest deadly accident to strike the country’s notoriously dangerous mining sector. Search efforts were underway for a missing miner, Xinhua news agency said, following the accident late Thursday at the Zhenxing coal mine in Guizhou province. Last Saturday, 108 miners were killed in a gas explosion at a coal mine in Heilongjiang province in northeastern China, reigniting concerns about safety standards in the nation’s coal mines. China’s coal mines are among the most dangerous in the world, with safety often ignored in the quest for profits and the drive to meet surging demand for coal — the source of about 70 percent of China’s energy.

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jl53XTFwuy7j5Im_rIZvmMwIzTPQ

Jim Walter Resources Inc. officials have identified two miners who collapsed in the Brookwood No. 7 mine last night. James Chaney, 53, of Berry died in the mine. Milton Etheridge, 59, of McCalla was found collapsed and was taken by helicopter to UAB Hospital after his rescue this morning. He was listed in good condition at the hospital this afternoon. “They each had decades of coal-mining experience,” said Dennis Hall, spokesman for Jim Walter Resources. Jim Walter officials also responded to a report by a federal mine safety official that low oxygen was to blame for Chaney’s death. “We don’t know how anyone could come to that conclusion at this early stage of the investigation,” Hall said. Two other miners on duty and three members of the mine rescue team showed signs of heat exhaustion during the rescue, which involved about 20 people at one point this morning. An additional three miners became ill today while working on the ventilation system after the rescue effort, a a company spokesman said. The mine’s tunnels occupy an area of 10 to 15 square miles.

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http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2009/11/post_242.html

HAZARD, Ky. (AP) — State officials say a crane accident at a mining site in southeastern Kentucky has fatally wounded a worker. Energy and Environment Cabinet spokeswoman Ricki Gardenhire says 37-year-old Leslie D. Trent of Hazard was struck by a crane arm at around 6 p.m. EST Monday. Trent was working for New York-based Frontier-Kemper Constructors at a site owned by Perry County Coal Corp. Gardenhire says Trent and another worker were changing equipment on a crane when the arm fell several feet and landed on them. Trent was flown to the University of Tennessee Hospital in Knoxville, where he later died. The other worker suffered a severe cut on the head and was taken to University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington. His condition was not known Tuesday afternoon.

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http://wztv.com/template/inews_wire/wires.regional.ky/20d465ac-www.fox17.com.shtml