Coltan

Hello everybody!

We are Yolanda Rubio and Laura Meco. We would like you to watch this presentation. It's about Coltan mineral. As you can see, this mineral is used to make a lot of elements that we use in our normal life.

It's made by the talantite and comlumbite's minerals and its color is grey.

In Congo, there was a war, and people were exploiting children. It's sad, but that is the truth.

Here you have a video in which you can see how these children were exploited.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q7s53Ego-Q

We hope you like our video about Coltan, and we are sure about you'll like it.

Bye, bye class!

See you!

Yolanda Rubio and Laura Meco.

Dangerous mines

Source: http://mediacrit.com/covering-coal-mining-by-accident

Today we have learned how dangerous is working in underground mines. Miners are exposed to gas leaks (especially methane) and if the working conditions are not safe, collapses can happen and the miners can get trapped. Precisely today an accident has happened at a coal mine in Colombia. At least 20 miners have been killed. Working underground requires specific safety rules that have to be respected and qualified workers who follow the instructions. Minig accidents are more fequent in the least developed countries. 

Here you have some links where you can get more information about mining: 

- Infomine website: this site provides a lot of information about mining around the world. If you click on "Mines sites", you will have access to a world map with the most important mines. You can know what minerals they extract and the type of mines (open- cast/open- pit or underground mines): 

http://www.infomine.com/minesite/

- Chinese mines are among the most dangerous in the world. This BBC report explores the reasons for this dangerousness: 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11497070

- On this link you can get information about the world´s worst mining disasters: 

http://worldnews.about.com/od/disasters/tp/Worlds-Worst-Mining-Disasters.htm

- Finally, a piece of news about today´s mining accident in northest Colombia: 

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70P4GP20110126