It’s an inconvenient fact that most of Earth’s largesse of useful minerals is locked up in, under, and around a lot of rock. Our little world condensed out of the remnants of stars whose death throes ...

To accomplish the job, MD&B is attacking in waves: Crews work their way across the hillside, drilling dozens of holes in the rock. Then, they pack those holes with 10,000-12,000 pounds of explosives ˆ ...