Mining is the extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth . Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agricultural processes , or feasibly created artificially in a laboratory or factory. Ores recovered by mining include metals , coal , oil shale , gemstones , limestone , chalk , dimension stone , rock salt , potash , gravel , and clay . The ore must be a rock or mineral that contains valuable constituent, can be extracted or mined and sold for profit. Mining in a wider sense includes extraction of any non-renewable resource such as petroleum , natural gas , or even water .
90-511: Modi Enterprises is an Indian business conglomerate based in New Delhi, India . The US $ 2.8 billion group, consisting of Godfrey Phillips India , Indofil Industries Ltd., Modicare Limited, has a diversified business portfolio including cigarettes manufacturing, education, agricultural chemicals , personal care, tea and beverages, entertainment, consumer products, multi-level marketing , and gourmet restaurants. Gujarmal Modi (1902–1976), founded
180-429: A market inefficiency , which undervalues the true strength of these stocks. In her 1999 book No Logo , Naomi Klein provides several examples of mergers and acquisitions between media companies designed to create conglomerates to create synergy between them: A relatively new development, Internet conglomerates, such as Alphabet , Google's parent company belong to the modern media conglomerate group and play
270-480: A disorienting and demoralizing experience for executives at acquired companies—those who were not immediately laid off found themselves at the mercy of the conglomerate's executives in some other distant city. Most conglomerates' headquarters were located on the West Coast or East Coast , while many of their acquisitions were located in the country's interior. Many interior cities were devastated by repeatedly losing
360-540: A focus in Asia.) In Japan, a different model of conglomerate, the keiretsu , evolved. Whereas the Western model of conglomerate consists of a single corporation with multiple subsidiaries controlled by that corporation, the companies in a keiretsu are linked by interlocking shareholdings and a central role of a bank. Mitsui , Mitsubishi , Sumitomo are some of Japan's best-known keiretsu, reaching from automobile manufacturing to
450-638: A global presence and a diversified portfolio of products and services. Conglomerates can be formed by merger and acquisitions , spin-offs , or joint ventures . Conglomerates are common in many countries and sectors, such as media , banking , energy , mining , manufacturing , retail , defense , and transportation . This type of organization aims to achieve economies of scale , market power, risk diversification , and financial synergy. However, they also face challenges such as complexity, bureaucracy , agency problems, and regulation . The popularity of conglomerates has varied over time and across regions. In
540-636: A hopper and a shaking screen or trommel which frees the desired minerals from the waste gravel. The minerals are then concentrated using sluices or jigs. Large drills are used to sink shafts, excavate stopes, and obtain samples for analysis. Trams are used to transport miners, minerals and waste. Lifts carry miners into and out of mines, and move rock and ore out, and machinery in and out, of underground mines. Huge trucks, shovels and cranes are employed in surface mining to move large quantities of overburden and ore. Processing plants use large crushers, mills, reactors, roasters and other equipment to consolidate
630-524: A major role within various industries, such as brand management . In most cases, Internet conglomerates consist of corporations that own several medium-sized online or hybrid online-offline projects. In many cases, newly joined corporations get higher returns on investment , access to business contacts, and better rates on loans from various banks. Similar to other industries many companies can be termed as conglomerates. Mining Modern mining processes involve prospecting for ore bodies, analysis of
720-875: A mass of actual rock. Both types of ore deposit, placer or lode, are mined by both surface and underground methods. Some mining, including much of the rare earth elements and uranium mining , is done by less-common methods, such as in-situ leaching : this technique involves digging neither at the surface nor underground. The extraction of target minerals by this technique requires that they be soluble, e.g., potash , potassium chloride , sodium chloride , sodium sulfate , which dissolve in water. Some minerals, such as copper minerals and uranium oxide , require acid or carbonate solutions to dissolve. Explosives in Mining Explosives have been used in surface mining and sub-surface mining to blast out rock and ore intended for processing. The most common explosive used in mining
810-426: A mining operation. Once the analysis determines a given ore body is worth recovering, development begins to create access to the ore body. The mine buildings and processing plants are built, and any necessary equipment is obtained. The operation of the mine to recover the ore begins and continues as long as the company operating the mine finds it economical to do so. Once all the ore that the mine can produce profitably
900-503: A more sustainable future, the demand for metals is set to skyrocket. Between 2022 and 2050, an estimated 7 billion metric tons of metals will need to be extracted. Steel will account for the largest portion of this total at 5 billion tons, followed by aluminum at 950 million tons, copper at 650 million tons, graphite at 170 million tons, nickel at 100 million tons, and other metals. Notably, the energy expenditure required to extract these metals will soon surpass that of coal mining, highlighting
990-763: A negative environmental impact, both during the mining activity and after the mine has closed. Hence, most of the world's nations have passed regulations to decrease the impact; however, the outsized role of mining in generating business for often rural, remote or economically depressed communities means that governments often fail to fully enforce such regulations. Work safety has long been a concern as well, and where enforced, modern practices have significantly improved safety in mines. Unregulated, poorly regulated or illegal mining , especially in developing economies , frequently contributes to local human rights violations and environmental conflicts . Mining can also perpetuate political instability through resource conflicts . Since
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#17331045253581080-625: A small slice of many companies in a fund rather than owning shares in a conglomerate. Another example of a successful conglomerate is Warren Buffett 's Berkshire Hathaway , a holding company which used surplus capital from its insurance subsidiaries to invest in businesses across a variety of industries. The end of the First World War caused a brief economic crisis in Weimar Germany , permitting entrepreneurs to buy businesses at rock-bottom prices. The most successful, Hugo Stinnes , established
1170-408: A strong inducement to extract these metals or to lease the deposits and collect royalties from mine operators. English, German , and Dutch capital combined to finance extraction and refining . Hundreds of German technicians and skilled workers were brought over; in 1642 a colony of 4,000 foreigners was mining and smelting copper at Keswick in the northwestern mountains. Use of water power in
1260-635: Is ammonium nitrate . Between 1870 and 1920, in Queensland Australia, an increase in mining accidents lead to more safety measures surrounding the use of explosives for mining. In the United States of America, between 1990 and 1999, about 22.3 billion kilograms of explosives were used in mining quarrying and other industries; Moreover " coal mining used 66.4%, nonmetal mining and quarrying 13.5%, metal mining 10.4%, construction 7.1%, and all other users 2.6%". Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM)
1350-811: Is a blanket term for a type of subsistence mining involving a miner who may or may not be officially employed by a mining company but works independently, mining minerals using their own resources, usually by hand. While there is no completely coherent definition for ASM, artisanal mining generally includes miners who are not officially employed by a mining company and use their own resources to mine. As such, they are part of an informal economy . ASM also includes, in small-scale mining, enterprises or individuals that employ workers for mining, but who generally still use similar manually-intensive methods as artisanal miners (such as working with hand tools). In addition, ASM can be characterized as distinct from large-scale mining (LSM) by less efficient extraction of pure minerals from
1440-402: Is a type of multi-industry company that consists of several different and unrelated business entities that operate in various industries. A conglomerate usually has a parent company that owns and controls many subsidiaries , which are legally independent but financially and strategically dependent on the parent company. Conglomerates are often large and multinational corporations that have
1530-472: Is currently China's largest civilian-run conglomerate by revenue. In South Korea , the chaebol is a type of conglomerate owned and operated by a family. A chaebol is also inheritable, as most of the current presidents of chaebols succeeded their fathers or grandfathers. Some of the largest and most well-known Korean chaebols are Samsung , LG , Hyundai Kia and SK . In India, family-owned enterprises became some of Asia's largest conglomerates, such as
1620-476: Is done by removing surface vegetation, dirt, and bedrock to reach buried ore deposits. Techniques of surface mining include: open-pit mining , which is the recovery of materials from an open pit in the ground; quarrying , identical to open-pit mining except that it refers to sand, stone and clay; strip mining , which consists of stripping surface layers off to reveal ore underneath; and mountaintop removal , commonly associated with coal mining, which involves taking
1710-613: Is mining upward, creating a sloping underground room, long wall mining , which is grinding a long ore surface underground, and room and pillar mining, which is removing ore from rooms while leaving pillars in place to support the roof of the room. Room and pillar mining often leads to retreat mining , in which supporting pillars are removed as miners retreat, allowing the room to cave in, thereby loosening more ore. Additional sub-surface mining methods include hard rock mining , bore hole mining, drift and fill mining, long hole slope mining, sub level caving, and block caving . Heavy machinery
1800-484: Is much more common, and produces, for example, 85% of minerals (excluding petroleum and natural gas) in the United States, including 98% of metallic ores. Targets are divided into two general categories of materials: placer deposits , consisting of valuable minerals contained within river gravels, beach sands, and other unconsolidated materials ; and lode deposits , where valuable minerals are found in veins, in layers, or in mineral grains generally distributed throughout
1890-413: Is not of immediate interest to the miner. The total movement of ore and waste constitutes the mining process. Often more waste than ore is mined during the life of a mine, depending on the nature and location of the ore body. Waste removal and placement is a major cost to the mining operator, so a detailed characterization of the waste material forms an essential part of the geological exploration program for
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#17331045253581980-584: Is recovered, reclamation can begin, to make the land used by the mine suitable for future use. Technical and economic challenges notwithstanding, successful mine development must also address human factors. Working conditions are paramount to success, especially with regard to exposures to dusts, radiation, noise, explosives hazards, and vibration, as well as illumination standards. Mining today increasingly must address environmental and community impacts, including psychological and sociological dimensions. Thus, mining educator Frank T. M. White (1909–1971), broadened
2070-634: Is the largest producer of diamonds in Africa, with an estimated 12 million carats in 2019. Other types of mining reserves in Africa include cobalt , bauxite , iron ore , coal, and copper . Gold and coal mining started in Australia and New Zealand in the 19th century. Nickel has become important in the economy of New Caledonia . In Fiji , in 1934, the Emperor Gold Mining Company Ltd. established operations at Vatukoula , followed in 1935 by
2160-423: Is to conduct a feasibility study to evaluate the financial viability, the technical and financial risks, and the robustness of the project. This is when the mining company makes the decision whether to develop the mine or to walk away from the project. This includes mine planning to evaluate the economically recoverable portion of the deposit, the metallurgy and ore recoverability, marketability and payability of
2250-419: Is used in mining to explore and develop sites, to remove and stockpile overburden, to break and remove rocks of various hardness and toughness, to process the ore, and to carry out reclamation projects after the mine is closed. Bulldozers, drills, explosives and trucks are all necessary for excavating the land. In the case of placer mining , unconsolidated gravel, or alluvium , is fed into machinery consisting of
2340-555: The Aditya Birla Group , Tata Group , Emami , Kirloskar Group , Larsen & Toubro , Mahindra Group , Bajaj Group , ITC Limited , Essar Group , Reliance Industries , Adani Group and the Bharti Enterprises . In Brazil the most important conglomerates are J&F Investimentos , Odebrecht , Itaúsa , Camargo Corrêa , Votorantim Group , Andrade Gutierrez , and Queiroz Galvão. In New Zealand, Fletcher Challenge
2430-513: The Greek author Diodorus Siculus , who mentions fire-setting as one method used to break down the hard rock holding the gold . One of the complexes is shown in one of the earliest known mining maps. The miners crushed the ore and ground it to a fine powder before washing the powder for the gold dust known as the dry and wet attachment processes. Mining in Europe has a very long history. Examples include
2520-646: The Joint Venture agreement, Modi Group has the right to take its holdings up to 51% by buying further into Philip Morris' holdings to gain majority control of the company. The deal brought Philip Morris' stake down to 21%. Krishan Kumar Modi , former chairman of Modi Group died at the age of 79 on 2 November 2019. The company's brands include Beacon Travels, Ego-Thai, Ego Italian, Godfrey Phillips , Indofil, Modicare, Colorbar, Modi Healthcare, Pan Vilas, Coearth and 24 Seven. Conglomerate (company) A conglomerate ( / k ə ŋ ˈ ɡ l ɒ m ə r ə t / )
2610-641: The United States , conglomerates became popular in the 1960s as a form of economic bubble driven by low interest rates and leveraged buyouts. However, many of them collapsed or were broken up in the 1980s due to poor performance, accounting scandals, and antitrust regulation. In contrast, conglomerates have remained prevalent in Asia, especially in China , Japan , South Korea , and India . In mainland China , many state-affiliated enterprises have gone through high value mergers and acquisitions , resulting in some of
2700-507: The argentiferous galena in the mines of Cartagena ( Cartago Nova ), Linares ( Castulo ), Plasenzuela and Azuaga , among many others. Spain was one of the most important mining regions, but all regions of the Roman Empire were exploited. In Great Britain the natives had mined minerals for millennia , but after the Roman conquest , the scale of the operations increased dramatically, as
2790-806: The greenstone of the Langdale axe industry based in the English Lake District . The oldest-known mine on archaeological record is the Ngwenya Mine in Eswatini (Swaziland) , which radiocarbon dating shows to be about 43,000 years old. At this site Paleolithic humans mined hematite to make the red pigment ochre . Mines of a similar age in Hungary are believed to be sites where Neanderthals may have mined flint for weapons and tools. Ancient Egyptians mined malachite at Maadi . At first, Egyptians used
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2880-516: The highest value business transactions of all time. These conglomerates have strong ties with the government and preferential policies and access to capital. During the 1960s, the United States was caught up in a "conglomerate fad " which turned out to be a form of an economic bubble . Due to a combination of low interest rates and a repeating bear-bull market , conglomerates were able to buy smaller companies in leveraged buyouts (sometimes at temporarily deflated values). Famous examples from
2970-440: The 1960s include Gulf and Western Industries , Ling-Temco-Vought , ITT Corporation , Litton Industries , Textron , and Teledyne . The trick was to look for acquisition targets with solid earnings and much lower price–earnings ratios than the acquirer. The conglomerate would make a tender offer to the target's shareholders at a princely premium to the target's current stock price. Upon obtaining shareholder approval,
3060-618: The 1980s, General Electric also moved into financing and financial services , which in 2005 accounted for about 45% of the company's net earnings. GE formerly owned a minority interest in NBCUniversal , which owns the NBC television network and several other cable networks . United Technologies was also a successful conglomerate until it was dismantled in the late 2010s. With the spread of mutual funds (especially index funds since 1976), investors could more easily obtain diversification by owning
3150-505: The 21st century begins, a globalized mining industry of large multinational corporations has arisen. Peak minerals and environmental impacts have also become a concern. Different elements, particularly rare-earth minerals , have begun to increase in demand as a result of new technologies. In 2023, 8.5 billion metric tons of coal were extracted from the Earth's crust. However, as the global economy transitions away from fossil fuels and toward
3240-663: The 7th century to the 14th century. Gold was often traded to Mediterranean economies that demanded gold and could supply salt , even though much of Africa was abundant with salt due to the mines and resources in the Sahara desert . The trading of gold for salt was mostly used to promote trade between the different economies. Since the Great Trek in the 19th century, after, gold and diamond mining in Southern Africa has had major political and economic impacts. The Democratic Republic of Congo
3330-644: The French crown to operate mines in 1733, becoming "the first practical miner on Lake Superior"; seven years later, mining was halted by an outbreak between Sioux and Chippewa tribes. Mining in the United States became widespread in the 19th century, and the United States Congress passed the General Mining Act of 1872 to encourage mining of federal lands. As with the California Gold Rush in
3420-630: The Loloma Gold Mines, N.L., and then by Fiji Mines Development Ltd. (aka Dolphin Mines Ltd.). These developments ushered in a “mining boom”, with gold production rising more than a hundred-fold, from 931.4 oz in 1934 to 107,788.5 oz in 1939, an order of magnitude then comparable to the combined output of New Zealand and Australia's eastern states. During prehistoric times, early Americans mined large amounts of copper along Lake Superior 's Keweenaw Peninsula and in nearby Isle Royale ; metallic copper
3510-503: The Modi Group, beginning with a small, family-run business, then expanding from 1933 onwards with companies such as Modi Sugar, Modi Vanaspati Mfr Co., Modi Industries Ltd, ModiLuft and Modi Rubber, Modi Paints, Modi Oils, Modi Electrodes, Modi Lanterns and Torch works, Tube wells/drilling, Modi Distillery, Modi Steels, Industrial Gases, Modi Spinning and Wvg. Mills Co. Ltd., Modi Yarn Mills, Modi Threads, Modi Soap, and Modi Carpets etc. By
3600-477: The Romans needed Britannia 's resources, especially gold , silver , tin , and lead . Roman techniques were not limited to surface mining. They followed the ore veins underground once opencast mining was no longer feasible. At Dolaucothi they stoped out the veins and drove adits through bare rock to drain the stopes. The same adits were also used to ventilate the workings, especially important when fire-setting
3690-589: The Spanish to pulverize ore after being mined. This device was powered by animals and used the same principles used for grain threshing . Much of the knowledge of medieval mining techniques comes from books such as Biringuccio 's De la pirotechnia and probably most importantly from Georg Agricola 's De re metallica (1556). These books detail many different mining methods used in German and Saxon mines. A prime issue in medieval mines, which Agricola explains in detail,
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3780-730: The Umm el-Sawwan site; gypsum was used to make funerary items for private tombs. Other minerals mined in Egypt from the Old Kingdom (2649-2134 BC) until the Roman Period (30 BC-AD 395) including granite , sandstone , limestone , basalt , travertine , gneiss , galena , and amethyst . Mining in Egypt occurred in the earliest dynasties. The gold mines of Nubia were among the largest and most extensive of any in Ancient Egypt. These mines are described by
3870-598: The United States, some of the examples are The Walt Disney Company , Warner Bros. Discovery and The Trump Organization (see below). In Canada, one of the examples is Hudson's Bay Company . Another such conglomerate is J.D. Irving, Limited , which controls a large portion of the economic activities as well as media in the Province of New Brunswick . Some cite the decreased cost of conglomerate stock (a phenomenon known as conglomerate discount ) as evidential of these disadvantages, while other traders believe this tendency to be
3960-624: The beginning of civilization, people have used stone , clay and, later, metals found close to the Earth's surface. These were used to make early tools and weapons; for example, high quality flint found in northern France , southern England and Poland was used to create flint tools . Flint mines have been found in chalk areas where seams of the stone were followed underground by shafts and galleries. The mines at Grimes Graves and Krzemionki are especially famous, and like most other flint mines, are Neolithic in origin (c. 4000–3000 BC). Other hard rocks mined or collected for axes included
4050-521: The bright green malachite stones for ornamentations and pottery . Later, between 2613 and 2494 BC, large building projects required expeditions abroad to the area of Wadi Maghareh in order to secure minerals and other resources not available in Egypt itself. Quarries for turquoise and copper were also found at Wadi Hammamat , Tura , Aswan and various other Nubian sites on the Sinai Peninsula and at Timna . Quarries for gypsum were found at
4140-455: The conglomerate usually settled the transaction in something other than cash, like debentures , bonds , warrants or convertible debentures (issuing the latter two would effectively dilute its shareholders down the road, but many shareholders at the time were not thinking that far ahead). The conglomerate would then add the target's earnings to its earnings, thereby increasing the conglomerate's overall earnings per share . In finance jargon,
4230-417: The cutter-head is progressively launched further into the coal seam. High wall mining can produce thousands of tons of coal in contour-strip operations with narrow benches, previously mined areas, trench mine applications and steep-dip seams. Sub-surface mining consists of digging tunnels or shafts into the earth to reach buried ore deposits. Ore, for processing, and waste rock, for disposal, are brought to
4320-462: The end came in January 1968, when Litton shocked Wall Street by announcing a quarterly profit of only 21 cents per share, versus 63 cents for the previous year's quarter. This was "just a decline in earnings of about 19 percent", not an actual loss or a corporate scandal, and "yet the stock was crushed, plummeting from $ 90 to $ 53". It would take two more years before it was clear that the conglomerate fad
4410-751: The examples are Adamjee Group , Dawood Hercules , House of Habib , Lakson Group and Nishat Group . In the Philippines , the largest conglomerate of the country is the Ayala Corporation which focuses on malls , bank , real estate development , and telecommunications . The other big conglomerates in the Philippines included JG Summit Holdings , Lopez Holdings Corporation , ABS-CBN Corporation , GMA Network, Inc. , MediaQuest Holdings , TV5 Network, Inc. , SM Investments Corporation , Metro Pacific Investments Corporation , and San Miguel Corporation . In
4500-588: The family remained united under KN Modi's leadership, this oversight would later cause a rift that threatened to destroy the company. In April 2010, Krishan Kumar Modi , former chairman of Modi Group, announced that his eldest son Lalit Modi will succeed him as the head of Modi Group's flagship business Godfrey Phillips India (GPI). KK Modi is the father of Lalit Modi , the founder of the Indian Premier League (IPL). According to Modi, his children ( Lalit Modi , Samir Modi and Charu Bhartia Modi ) will have
4590-698: The focus to the “total environment of mining”, including reference to community development around mining, and how mining is portrayed to an urban society, which depends on the industry, although seemingly unaware of this dependency. He stated, “[I]n the past, mining engineers have not been called upon to study the psychological, sociological and personal problems of their own industry – aspects that nowadays are assuming tremendous importance. The mining engineer must rapidly expand his knowledge and his influence into these newer fields.” Mining techniques can be divided into two common excavation types: surface mining and sub-surface (underground) mining . Today, surface mining
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#17331045253584680-481: The form of water mills was extensive. The water mills were employed in crushing ore, raising ore from shafts, and ventilating galleries by powering giant bellows . Black powder was first used in mining in Selmecbánya , Kingdom of Hungary (now Banská Štiavnica , Slovakia) in 1627. Black powder allowed blasting of rock and earth to loosen and reveal ore veins. Blasting was much faster than fire-setting and allowed
4770-400: The growing importance of sustainable metal extraction practices. The process of mining from discovery of an ore body through extraction of minerals and finally to returning the land to its natural state consists of several distinct steps. The first is discovery of the ore body, which is carried out through prospecting or exploration to find and then define the extent, location and value of
4860-714: The headquarters of corporations to mergers, in which independent ventures were reduced to subsidiaries of conglomerates based in New York or Los Angeles. Pittsburgh, for example, lost about a dozen. The terror instilled by the mere prospect of such harsh consequences for executives and their home cities meant that fending off takeovers, real or imagined, was a constant distraction for executives at all corporations seen as choice acquisition targets during this era. The chain reaction of rapid growth through acquisitions could not last forever. When interest rates rose to offset rising inflation, conglomerate profits began to fall. The beginning of
4950-525: The metals due to the difficulties of transporting them, but the copper was eventually traded throughout the continent along major river routes. In the early colonial history of the Americas, "native gold and silver was quickly expropriated and sent back to Spain in fleets of gold- and silver-laden galleons", the gold and silver originating mostly from mines in Central and South America. Turquoise dated at 700 AD
5040-753: The mid-19th century, mining for minerals and precious metals, along with ranching , became a driving factor in the U.S. Westward Expansion to the Pacific coast. With the exploration of the West, mining camps sprang up and "expressed a distinctive spirit, an enduring legacy to the new nation"; Gold Rushers would experience the same problems as the Land Rushers of the transient West that preceded them. Aided by railroads, many people traveled West for work opportunities in mining. Western cities such as Denver and Sacramento originated as mining towns. When new areas were explored, it
5130-492: The mid-sixteenth century. On the continent, mineral deposits belonged to the crown, and this regalian right was stoutly maintained. But in England, royal mining rights were restricted to gold and silver (of which England had virtually no deposits) by a judicial decision of 1568 and a law in 1688. England had iron , zinc , copper , lead , and tin ores. Landlords who owned the base metals and coal under their estates then had
5220-432: The minehead, where the water was stored in large reservoirs and tanks. When a full tank was opened, the flood of water sluiced away the overburden to expose the bedrock underneath and any gold-bearing veins. The rock was then worked by fire-setting to heat the rock, which would be quenched with a stream of water. The resulting thermal shock cracked the rock, enabling it to be removed by further streams of water from
5310-431: The mining of previously impenetrable metals and ores. In 1762, one of the world's first mining academies was established in the same town there. The widespread adoption of agricultural innovations such as the iron plowshare , as well as the growing use of metal as a building material, was also a driving force in the tremendous growth of the iron industry during this period. Inventions like the arrastra were often used by
5400-503: The most powerful private economic conglomerate in 1920s Europe – Stinnes Enterprises – which embraced sectors as diverse as manufacturing, mining, shipbuilding, hotels, newspapers, and other enterprises. The best-known British conglomerate was Hanson plc . It followed a rather different timescale than the U.S. examples mentioned above, as it was founded in 1964 and ceased to be a conglomerate when it split itself into four separate listed companies between 1995 and 1997. In Hong Kong, some of
5490-652: The new businesses they had recently purchased, and by the mid-1970s most conglomerates had been reduced to shells. The conglomerate fad was subsequently replaced by newer ideas like focusing on a company's core competency and unlocking shareholder value (which often translate into spin-offs ). In other cases, conglomerates are formed for genuine interests of diversification rather than manipulation of paper return on investment. Companies with this orientation would only make acquisitions or start new branches in other sectors when they believed this would increase profitability or stability by sharing risks. Flush with cash during
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#17331045253585580-602: The obligation to appoint his successor, and only by a unanimous vote. Otherwise, the group will be sold off with the profits from the sale shared equally among them. In June 2011, The Modi Group announced that it was planning to acquire majority control in Godfrey Phillips India from American tobacco company Philip Morris . Both groups had a 36% share in the company until in 2009, Modi Group acquired an additional 11% stake in GPI from Philip Morris, taking its share to 47%. As per
5670-405: The ore body. This leads to a mathematical resource estimation to estimate the size and grade of the deposit. This estimation is used to conduct a pre-feasibility study to determine the theoretical economics of the ore deposit. This identifies, early on, whether further investment in estimation and engineering studies is warranted and identifies key risks and areas for further work. The next step
5760-462: The ore concentrates, engineering concerns, milling and infrastructure costs, finance and equity requirements, and an analysis of the proposed mine from the initial excavation all the way through to reclamation. The proportion of a deposit that is economically recoverable is dependent on the enrichment factor of the ore in the area. To gain access to the mineral deposit within an area it is often necessary to mine through or remove waste material which
5850-442: The ore, lower wages, decreased occupational safety, benefits, and health standards for miners, and a lack of environmental protection measures. Artisanal miners often undertake the activity of mining seasonally. For example, crops are planted in the rainy season , and mining is pursued in the dry season . However, they also frequently travel to mining areas and work year-round. There are four broad types of ASM: Surface mining
5940-556: The overhead tanks. The Roman miners used similar methods to work cassiterite deposits in Cornwall and lead ore in the Pennines . Sluicing methods were developed by the Romans in Spain in 25 AD to exploit large alluvial gold deposits, the largest site being at Las Medulas , where seven long aqueducts tapped local rivers and sluiced the deposits. The Romans also exploited the silver present in
6030-714: The production of electronics such as televisions. While not a keiretsu, Sony is an example of a modern Japanese conglomerate with operations in consumer electronics , video games , the music industry , television and film production and distribution , financial services , and telecommunications . In China, many of the country's conglomerates are state-owned enterprises , but there is a substantial number of private conglomerates. Notable conglomerates include BYD , CIMC , China Merchants Bank , Huawei , JXD , Meizu , Ping An Insurance , TCL , Tencent , TP-Link , ZTE , Legend Holdings , Dalian Wanda Group , China Poly Group , Beijing Enterprises , and Fosun International . Fosun
6120-430: The profit potential of a proposed mine, extraction of the desired materials, and final reclamation or restoration of the land after the mine is closed. Mining materials are often obtained from ore bodies, lodes , veins , seams , reefs , or placer deposits . The exploitation of these deposits for raw materials is dependent on investment, labor, energy, refining, and transportation cost. Mining operations can create
6210-431: The remaining part of a coal seam previously exploited by other surface-mining techniques has too much overburden to be removed but can still be profitably exploited from the side of the artificial cliff made by previous mining. A typical cycle alternates sumping, which undercuts the seam, and shearing, which raises and lowers the cutter-head boom to cut the entire height of the coal seam. As the coal recovery cycle continues,
6300-446: The shafts could no longer be pumped dry with the available technology. Although an increased use of banknotes , credit and copper coins during this period did decrease the value of, and dependence on, precious metals , gold and silver still remained vital to the story of medieval mining. Due to differences in the social structure of society, the increasing extraction of mineral deposits spread from central Europe to England in
6390-558: The silver mines of Laurium , which helped support the Greek city state of Athens . Although they had over 20,000 slaves working them, their technology was essentially identical to their Bronze Age predecessors. At other mines, such as on the island of Thassos , marble was quarried by the Parians after they arrived in the 7th century BC. The marble was shipped away and was later found by archaeologists to have been used in buildings including
6480-474: The surface through the tunnels and shafts. Sub-surface mining can be classified by the type of access shafts used, and the extraction method or the technique used to reach the mineral deposit. Drift mining uses horizontal access tunnels, slope mining uses diagonally sloping access shafts, and shaft mining uses vertical access shafts. Mining in hard and soft rock formations requires different techniques. Other methods include shrinkage stope mining , which
6570-404: The time Modi's brother Kedar Nath Modi joined the company, the Modi Group was India's seventh largest conglomerate . The company had become the center of the eponymously renamed city of Modinagar . Modi died in 1976, and KN Modi succeeded him with the help of Modi's five sons and his own three sons who later joined the family business. The founder of the company did not leave a will and, although
6660-590: The tomb of Amphipolis. Philip II of Macedon , the father of Alexander the Great , captured the gold mines of Mount Pangeo in 357 BC to fund his military campaigns. He also captured gold mines in Thrace for minting coinage, eventually producing 26 tons per year. However, it was the Romans who developed large-scale mining methods, especially the use of large volumes of water brought to the minehead by numerous aqueducts . The water
6750-448: The top of a mountain off to reach ore deposits at depth. Most placer deposits, because they are shallowly buried, are mined by surface methods. Finally, landfill mining involves sites where landfills are excavated and processed. Landfill mining has been thought of as a long-term solution to methane emissions and local pollution. High wall mining, which evolved from auger mining, is another form of surface mining. In high wall mining,
6840-614: The top slats. Many examples of such devices have been found in old Roman mines and some examples are now preserved in the British Museum and the National Museum of Wales . Mining as an industry underwent dramatic changes in medieval Europe . The mining industry in the early Middle Ages was mainly focused on the extraction of copper and iron . Other precious metals were also used, mainly for gilding or coinage. Initially, many metals were obtained through open-pit mining , and ore
6930-406: The transaction was " accretive to earnings." The relatively lax accounting standards of the time meant that accountants were often able to get away with creative mathematics in calculating the conglomerate's post-acquisition consolidated earnings numbers. In turn, the price of the conglomerate's stock would go up, thereby re-establishing its previous price-earnings ratio, and then it could repeat
7020-425: The well-known conglomerates include Jardine Matheson (AD1824), Swire Group (AD1816), (British companies, one Scottish one English; companies that have a history of over 150 years and have business interests that span across four continents with a focus in Asia.) C K Hutchison Whampoa (now CK Hutchison Holdings ), Sino Group , (both Asian-owned companies specialize business such as real estate and hospitality with
7110-663: The whole process with a new target. In plain English, conglomerates were using rapid acquisitions to create the illusion of rapid growth. In 1968, the peak year of the conglomerate fad, U.S. corporations completed a record number of mergers: approximately 4,500. In that year, at least 26 of the country's 500 largest corporations were acquired, of which 12 had assets above $ 250 million. All this complex company reorganization had very real consequences for people who worked for companies that were either acquired by conglomerates or were seen as likely to be acquired by them. Acquisitions were
7200-461: The world's gold, followed by the establishment of large mines such as the Mount Morgan Mine , which ran for nearly a hundred years, Broken Hill ore deposit (one of the largest zinc-lead ore deposits), and the iron ore mines at Iron Knob . After declines in production, another boom in mining occurred in the 1960s. In the early 21st century, Australia remains a major world mineral producer. As
7290-468: The world, which was increasingly demanding copper for electrical and household goods. Canada's mining industry grew more slowly than did the United States due to limitations in transportation, capital, and U.S. competition; Ontario was the major producer of the early 20th century with nickel, copper, and gold. Meanwhile, Australia experienced the Australian gold rushes and by the 1850s was producing 40% of
7380-462: Was formed in 1981 from the merger of Fletcher Holdings , Challenge Corporation, and Tasman Pulp & Paper, in an attempt to create a New Zealand-based multi-national company. At the time, the newly merged company dealt in construction, building supplies, pulp and paper mills, forestry, and oil & gas. Following a series of bungled investments, the company demerged in the early 2000s to concentrate on building and construction. In Pakistan , some of
7470-612: Was mined in pre-Columbian America; in the Cerillos Mining District in New Mexico , an estimate of "about 15,000 tons of rock had been removed from Mt. Chalchihuitl using stone tools before 1700." In 1727 Louis Denys (Denis) (1675–1741), sieur de La Ronde – brother of Simon-Pierre Denys de Bonaventure and the son-in-law of René Chartier – took command of Fort La Pointe at Chequamegon Bay ; where natives informed him of an island of copper. La Ronde obtained permission from
7560-487: Was on its way out. The stock market eventually figured out that the conglomerates' bloated and inefficient businesses were as cyclical as any others—indeed, it was that cyclical nature that had caused such businesses to be such undervalued acquisition targets in the first place —and their descent put "the lie to the claim that diversification allowed them to ride out a downturn." A major selloff of conglomerate shares ensued. To keep going, many conglomerates were forced to shed
7650-576: Was primarily extracted from shallow depths, rather than through deep mine shafts. Around the 14th century , the growing use of weapons , armour , stirrups , and horseshoes greatly increased the demand for iron. Medieval knights , for example, were often laden with up to 100 pounds (45 kg) of plate or chain link armour in addition to swords , lances and other weapons. The overwhelming dependency on iron for military purposes spurred iron production and extraction processes. The silver crisis of 1465 occurred when all mines had reached depths at which
7740-406: Was still present near the surface in colonial times. Indigenous peoples used Lake Superior copper from at least 5,000 years ago; copper tools, arrowheads, and other artifacts that were part of an extensive native trade-network have been discovered. In addition, obsidian , flint , and other minerals were mined, worked, and traded. Early French explorers who encountered the sites made no use of
7830-411: Was the removal of water from mining shafts. As miners dug deeper to access new veins, flooding became a very real obstacle. The mining industry became dramatically more efficient and prosperous with the invention of mechanically- and animal-driven pumps. Iron metallurgy in Africa dates back over four thousand years. Gold became an important commodity for Africa during the trans-Saharan gold trade from
7920-403: Was used for a variety of purposes, including removing overburden and rock debris, called hydraulic mining , as well as washing comminuted , or crushed, ores and driving simple machinery. The Romans used hydraulic mining methods on a large scale to prospect for the veins of ore, especially using a now-obsolete form of mining known as hushing . They built numerous aqueducts to supply water to
8010-461: Was used. At other parts of the site, they penetrated the water table and dewatered the mines using several kinds of machines, especially reverse overshot water-wheels . These were used extensively in the copper mines at Rio Tinto in Spain, where one sequence comprised 16 such wheels arranged in pairs, and lifting water about 24 metres (79 ft). They were worked as treadmills with miners standing on
8100-539: Was usually the gold ( placer and then lode ) and then silver that were taken into possession and extracted first. Other metals would often wait for railroads or canals, as coarse gold dust and nuggets do not require smelting and are easy to identify and transport. In the early 20th century, the gold and silver rush to the western United States also stimulated mining for coal as well as base metals such as copper, lead, and iron. Areas in modern Montana, Utah, Arizona, and later Alaska became predominant suppliers of copper to
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