Environmental Reclamation can be very profitable. Coal companies were very smart to start their own reclamation business. Great video as always! Every time I watch one, I wish I were on one of our job sites smelling the dirt and listening to the iron work. Nothing like the smell of a dozer pushing dirt. Watching a dragline work up close is on my bucket list. Must be amazing to see in person and thanks for bringing it on video.
You do an absolutely amazing job with these videos. I’m not sure how you can afford to take these trips… but man I hope you know how blessed you are to have these opportunities. Keep making these videos! Thanks brother 🙏
U gotta tour a Teck coal mine. We work on top of a mountain 24 hours a day. We got 5 4100 xpc shovels 30 Komatsu 930e idk how many d11s and Komatsu dozers. At the one I'm at there 4 in the area and we are one of the small ones
@@julianmatheson what company do u work for ? Shutdown n outage work where I’m from in California is sadly becoming more and more scarce thanks to Biden and Gavin newsome. Thinking about getting in with an outfit that does work in the east more or less .
You should try and do a video about Stillwater mine in big timber Montana. I worked there for a while. Pretty cool underground hard rock mine. They mine all precious metals including platinum and palladium.
It would be awesome to see you tour mines, plants , and shipping facilities in Northern MN and explain the Iron ore mining / Taconite processing (Taconite is the product of removing as much waste/ tailings as possible to leave a more concentrated iron ore for the steel making process) The mines and taconite plants are in Northern MN and produce the majority of the raw iron ore in the US . Most bulk shipping facilities are less than 2 hours away by rail on the great lakes(primarily lake superior). I live in the Duluth/ superior / two harbors area and am in within a 10 to 45 minute drive of 4 of the shipping facilities which offload rail transferring mainly to ship for lower lakes steel mills. Lots of heavy earth moving machinery and industrial equipment as well as rail infrastructure especially at the mines but also at the shipping locations. Both shipping facilities nearest to me operate large loaders and other equipment including bucket wheel excavators. Ive personally worked for both a foundry and a forge in Duluth (ME Global Duluth/Gerdeau Grinding Ball that supply components used in processing raw material into taconite/ semi finished product. Although a lot of material is exported... we do have a lot of raw material imported into the ports(coal,limestone, and bentonite clay etc.) A lot of which is shipped north to the mines or to other industries. We also have the largest coal export dock on the great lakes MERC which has a large fleet of D11's.Another large transload operation tied to mining in the area( Duluth/Superior)would be the Hallet Dock Co. which also has multiple facilities and operates a large fleet of various earth moving and rail machinery. It would be interesting to see the mining,processing, and shipping process if you are ever interested and able to cover it.. either way good job explaining and educating folks on the processes behind a lot of the job sites and industries you visit
take a trip out to tampa florida they are in the middle of a real interesting bridge project across the bay its literally miles of cranes on barges I have never seen more giant cranes in one place in my life
Yep, Red Hills has been there for a while now. I remember my dad taking my brother and I to see it when we were little kids, and that was almost 20 years ago.
That's nothing compared to the environmental impact of reintroducing the carbon from that coal back into the surface/atmospheric cycle. Mine site reclamation is important, yes, but it does nothing for the systemic impact of ongoing fossil fuels use. Nobody is doing carbon capture from coal burning power plants. It's not economical and we don't have a solution for storing that carbon afterwards. The physics just don't work out. The reason that fossil fuels are fuels at all it because they contain energy that we can exploit. In order to use that energy, we have to turn the (relatively) inert solids into gas. Going the other direction: turning the gas into an inert solid, requires at least the same amount of energy as was released. That's just the simple physics of it. So capturing and converting carbon from burning fossil fuels, back into an inert form that can be easily stored, will never make sense from a net energy standpoint. And if we have the technology to efficiently capture carbon from the atmosphere and convert it into a stable, energy-dense form... we should use that to create new carbon fuels from carbon we've already released into the atmosphere. Those would be net zero for atmospheric/surface system carbon, and we could use part of that infrastructure's output for sequestration to undo the effects of centuries of reintroducing old carbon.
The surface reclamation *is* important, but even if they didn't reclaim the site the environmental damage on the surface absolutely pales in comparison to the damage caused systemically by burning fossil fuels and releasing their carbon into the atmosphere. Focusing on the highly visible mine site surface is a distraction from the primary impact of fossil fuels. Honestly if all that was wrong with fossil fuels was localized environmental damage, that would be amazing. Instead, increasing atmospheric carbon threatens environments the entire world over.
It depends the application, not all coal is used for Power generation (the worst use case in terms of the environmental impact) but a vast amount of coal mines in North America are producing metallurgical/steel making coal and is extremely necessary in advancing our planet.
@@julianmatheson Coking steel is still a significant source of atmospheric carbon. It's slightly more justifiable as a use for coal compared to simply burning it (since we have good alternative energy sources for electricity, but not good alternative carbon sources for steel making), but it's still a massive net contributor to global warming. If we want to have any hope of keeping the planet reasonably habitable, we need to stop all net fossil fuel carbon release immediately and find alternatives that utilize carbon that's already part of the atmospheric/surface cycle.
@@haphazard1342 it’s not possible to simply stop carbon release, the modern world would collapse. We’re already seeing Power shortages in places like Germany & New Zealand who have tried to move too quickly without considering all the factors. There needs to be a methodical shift to greener energy sources but goals need to be feasible in terms of time & cost.
@@julianmatheson That's because Germany didn't build nuclear power: they were stuck with political commitments to shut down coal, but also without the political support needed to stand up adequate alternatives in time. I recognize how dependent the modern world is on fossil fuels, and hydrocarbon infrastructure generally. Obviously we can't just flip a switch and stop burning. But we need to act like we have to. We need to imagine that there is a metaphorical gun being pointed at us with the wielded saying "stop burning as fast as you possibly can". That's the attitude we have to have, and we're just not getting there at the current pace.
What's cooler to watch work, a shovel, a dragline, or dozers?
Dozer and dragline working together
ALL of them!
I have never seen a shovel or dragline (in this size) in real life 😫😫😫 but I think that would be really cool to see
The Shovel for me
Why do we have to choose? Why not all three?
Those giant dozer looks like miniatures next to the dragline. 😵
Environmental Reclamation can be very profitable. Coal companies were very smart to start their own reclamation business. Great video as always! Every time I watch one, I wish I were on one of our job sites smelling the dirt and listening to the iron work. Nothing like the smell of a dozer pushing dirt. Watching a dragline work up close is on my bucket list. Must be amazing to see in person and thanks for bringing it on video.
Aaron may not be a perfect expert at the heavy world, but he is doing Gods work making this world cool and awesome again! ‘Merica!!
You do an absolutely amazing job with these videos. I’m not sure how you can afford to take these trips… but man I hope you know how blessed you are to have these opportunities. Keep making these videos! Thanks brother 🙏
I bet a lot of this is a business expense
It's literally his job
@@dopamine261 all of it is. But that only means the taxes are deductible. He’s still gotta bring in the money to pay for it.
Yeah it ain’t cheap haha… but thank you for watching. Our marketing and software business is what allows me to do this. I’m very fortunate
Great video as always. I learn something cool every time.
Thanks for watching!!!
U gotta tour a Teck coal mine. We work on top of a mountain 24 hours a day. We got 5 4100 xpc shovels 30 Komatsu 930e idk how many d11s and Komatsu dozers. At the one I'm at there 4 in the area and we are one of the small ones
Which Operation are you at? Elkview, Line Creek, Fording River etc?
Greenhills
@@novac8554 decent, I’ve done some coal process buildings for them. Amazing company to work with. Hopefully doing some work at Elkview next year.
@@julianmatheson what company do u work for ? Shutdown n outage work where I’m from in California is sadly becoming more and more scarce thanks to Biden and Gavin newsome. Thinking about getting in with an outfit that does work in the east more or less .
@@andrewgarcia4631 Pre-Eng Building contractor. We design & build all kinds of stuff but the heavy industrial/mining/oil & gas is my forte.
The South was a Longleaf Pine Savanna 300 years ago with old growth hardwood in the lowlands and swamps, so pine is absolutely a native tree species!
Interesting
Cool stuff, I had no idea that coal was mined in the south like that.
I didn’t either until I visited this mine
You should try and do a video about Stillwater mine in big timber Montana. I worked there for a while. Pretty cool underground hard rock mine. They mine all precious metals including platinum and palladium.
Eric Jumper is doing great things at Build Woot.
Everything is just so much bigger in the states. I’m from the Uk and we have the biggest kit around but not in comparison.
Wait til you see an Arizona copper mine!
Awesome video Aaron,
Thank you!!
The mitigation bank game is popping off big time. RES and delta land are probably the biggest players in the game rn.
It would be awesome to see you tour mines, plants , and shipping facilities in Northern MN and explain the Iron ore mining / Taconite processing (Taconite is the product of removing as much waste/ tailings as possible to leave a more concentrated iron ore for the steel making process) The mines and taconite plants are in Northern MN and produce the majority of the raw iron ore in the US . Most bulk shipping facilities are less than 2 hours away by rail on the great lakes(primarily lake superior). I live in the Duluth/ superior / two harbors area and am in within a 10 to 45 minute drive of 4 of the shipping facilities which offload rail transferring mainly to ship for lower lakes steel mills. Lots of heavy earth moving machinery and industrial equipment as well as rail infrastructure especially at the mines but also at the shipping locations. Both shipping facilities nearest to me operate large loaders and other equipment including bucket wheel excavators. Ive personally worked for both a foundry and a forge in Duluth (ME Global Duluth/Gerdeau Grinding Ball that supply components used in processing raw material into taconite/ semi finished product. Although a lot of material is exported... we do have a lot of raw material imported into the ports(coal,limestone, and bentonite clay etc.) A lot of which is shipped north to the mines or to other industries. We also have the largest coal export dock on the great lakes MERC which has a large fleet of D11's.Another large transload operation tied to mining in the area( Duluth/Superior)would be the Hallet Dock Co. which also has multiple facilities and operates a large fleet of various earth moving and rail machinery. It would be interesting to see the mining,processing, and shipping process if you are ever interested and able to cover it.. either way good job explaining and educating folks on the processes behind a lot of the job sites and industries you visit
I'd love to get up there one day but they're tough to get into
take a trip out to tampa florida they are in the middle of a real interesting bridge project across the bay its literally miles of cranes on barges I have never seen more giant cranes in one place in my life
Great production, if you ever get the chance to go to Germany you have to check out the utter giants they use for open pit mining lignite.
We hope to visit again soon!!
Check out Wright brother’s construction out of Charleston Tennessee. They’ve got a really cool history I’d love to see you cover.
Great work bro 👌👌
you need to see the biggest german coal mine that will be good
the adventure time logo has me in deep nostalgia
Really amazing to see the conservation efforts 👍
The channel is growing fast!
Ohhh yeaaaaah
I think most of the issues arise when you burn the coal, not when you pull it out of the ground
What size bucket, is on that dragline ?? Great video .
over 100 CY... maybe around 108 I don't exactly remember
I've been on the Steel Magnolia
awesome!!
Bro I went to college in Starkville and I didn’t even know there were coal mines around there lol
Yep, Red Hills has been there for a while now. I remember my dad taking my brother and I to see it when we were little kids, and that was almost 20 years ago.
It’s super random huh haha
What Kind of safety glasses are you running?
Oakleys. M frame I think
Longer videos please.
most of our latest videos are longer!
What does the drag line do? Like why is it scooping then throwing back into the big trench? Is all that not coal?
It exposes the coal. It throws the material on ground that’s already mined
Do some logging vids
Woah
Why is everyone wearing a skull guard? …
Pretty standard on coal mines
Cool video of you talking, how about more equipment shots and less guy standing there talking shots.
Ok thanks for watching
👍
Yeah, have burn piles to burn the pine logs of the non native trees. That’s always good for the environment.
That's nothing compared to the environmental impact of reintroducing the carbon from that coal back into the surface/atmospheric cycle. Mine site reclamation is important, yes, but it does nothing for the systemic impact of ongoing fossil fuels use.
Nobody is doing carbon capture from coal burning power plants. It's not economical and we don't have a solution for storing that carbon afterwards.
The physics just don't work out. The reason that fossil fuels are fuels at all it because they contain energy that we can exploit. In order to use that energy, we have to turn the (relatively) inert solids into gas. Going the other direction: turning the gas into an inert solid, requires at least the same amount of energy as was released. That's just the simple physics of it.
So capturing and converting carbon from burning fossil fuels, back into an inert form that can be easily stored, will never make sense from a net energy standpoint.
And if we have the technology to efficiently capture carbon from the atmosphere and convert it into a stable, energy-dense form... we should use that to create new carbon fuels from carbon we've already released into the atmosphere. Those would be net zero for atmospheric/surface system carbon, and we could use part of that infrastructure's output for sequestration to undo the effects of centuries of reintroducing old carbon.
@@haphazard1342 I think it might be possible to convert lignite into a cleaner form but that hasn't really caught on
TENET
bullfrogs?------------BULLDOGS!
It oh he fell flat on his face.
Damage not reclamation.
The surface reclamation *is* important, but even if they didn't reclaim the site the environmental damage on the surface absolutely pales in comparison to the damage caused systemically by burning fossil fuels and releasing their carbon into the atmosphere. Focusing on the highly visible mine site surface is a distraction from the primary impact of fossil fuels.
Honestly if all that was wrong with fossil fuels was localized environmental damage, that would be amazing. Instead, increasing atmospheric carbon threatens environments the entire world over.
1 minute of front shovel and dragline action. the rest is Aaron talking and driving 🤦
thanks for watching!
I mean I love heavy equipment…but the burning of coal and the byproducts produced are atrocious for the environment.
It depends the application, not all coal is used for Power generation (the worst use case in terms of the environmental impact) but a vast amount of coal mines in North America are producing metallurgical/steel making coal and is extremely necessary in advancing our planet.
@@julianmatheson Coking steel is still a significant source of atmospheric carbon. It's slightly more justifiable as a use for coal compared to simply burning it (since we have good alternative energy sources for electricity, but not good alternative carbon sources for steel making), but it's still a massive net contributor to global warming.
If we want to have any hope of keeping the planet reasonably habitable, we need to stop all net fossil fuel carbon release immediately and find alternatives that utilize carbon that's already part of the atmospheric/surface cycle.
@@haphazard1342 it’s not possible to simply stop carbon release, the modern world would collapse. We’re already seeing Power shortages in places like Germany & New Zealand who have tried to move too quickly without considering all the factors. There needs to be a methodical shift to greener energy sources but goals need to be feasible in terms of time & cost.
@@julianmatheson That's because Germany didn't build nuclear power: they were stuck with political commitments to shut down coal, but also without the political support needed to stand up adequate alternatives in time.
I recognize how dependent the modern world is on fossil fuels, and hydrocarbon infrastructure generally. Obviously we can't just flip a switch and stop burning. But we need to act like we have to. We need to imagine that there is a metaphorical gun being pointed at us with the wielded saying "stop burning as fast as you possibly can". That's the attitude we have to have, and we're just not getting there at the current pace.
Then stop using power and the problem will be solved