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Arctic Network Builders : The Arctic Coal Company's Operations On Spitsbergen And Its Relationship With The Environment, Cameron C. Hartnell

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

In 1906, two American industrialists, John Munroe Longyear and Frederick Ayer, formed the Arctic Coal Company to make the first large scale attempt at mining in the high-Arctic location of Spitsbergen, north of the Norwegian mainland. In doing so, they encountered numerous obstacles and built an organization that attempted to overcome them. The Americans sold out in 1916 but others followed, eventually culminating in the transformation of a largely underdeveloped landscape into a mining region.

This work uses John Law’s network approach of the Actor Network Theory (ANT) framework to explain how the Arctic Coal Company built a mining network …

Winning Coal At 78° North : Mining, Contingency And The Chaîne Opératoire In Old Longyear City, Seth C. Depasqual

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the evolution of an early 20^th century mining system in Spitsbergen as applied by Boston-based Arctic Coal Company (ACC). This analysis will address the following questions: Did the system evolve in a linear, technological-based fashion? Or was the progression more a product of interactions and negotiations with the natural and human landscapes present during the time of occupation? Answers to these questions will be sought through review of historical records and material residues identified during the 2008 field examination on Spitsbergen. The Arctic Coal Company’s flagship mine, ACC Mine No. 1, …

Reflection, Refraction, And Rejection : Copper Smelting Heritage And The Execution Of Environmental Policy, Bode J. Morin

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This dissertation examines the global technological and environmental history of copper smelting and the conflict that developed between historic preservation and environmental remediation at major copper smelting sites in the United States after their productive periods ended. Part I of the dissertation is a synthetic overview of the history of copper smelting and its environmental impact. After reviewing the basic metallurgy of copper ores, the dissertation contains successive chapters on the history of copper smelting to 1640, culminating in the so-called German, or Continental, processing system; on the emergence of the rival Welsh system during the British industrial revolution; and …