B. Todd Jones, a former Marine and U.S. attorney, was confirmed last July as the first permanent director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in seven years. He was appointed as acting director two years earlier in the wake of the agency’s mishandled gun-trafficking operation involving Mexican drug cartels. Jones spoke about his goals for the agency with Tom Fox, a guest writer for On Leadership and vice president for leadership and innovation at the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service. Fox also heads up their Center for Government Leadership.

Controlled explosions were used to blast holes in three tanker cars of a derailed oil train in an attempt to extinguish a large fire that continues to burn two and half days after the incident, a Canadian National Railway spokesman said Friday.

A large fireball shot into the sky and a boom resounded after the blast. "Preliminary indications are everything went as planned," Canadian National spokesman Jim Feeny said.

The number of deaths among miners caused by work-related accidents in 2013 increased to 42 last year, up from 36 in 2012, according to the latest Department of Labor (DOL) data. Twenty of last year’s deaths occurred in coal mines and 22 in metal or nonmetal facilities, compared to 20 and 16, respectively, the year before.

Mining deaths were at a record low rate for the first three quarters of the year, but then they saw a "significant increase" in the fourth quarter compared to the same period the year before, with the death of six coal miners and nine in metal or nonmetal mines. That included the deaths of three coal miners in as many days in October, a string of consecutive incidents that hasn’t happened in a decade. Comparatively, four coal miners and two metal or nonmetal miners died in the same period in 2012.

The University of Arizona will conduct two research studies on ways to improve mine safety using $1.3 million in grants from a mine safety foundation. The two grants announced Monday, Jan. 6 will pay for a risk management study by the university's college of public health and a study by its mineral resources institute on improving mine safety training. They were made by the Alpha Foundation for the Improvement of Mine Safety and Health.

The past year has not been kind to Caterpillar Inc., the world's leading producer of construction and mining equipment. Sales are down by $11 billion, third-quarter earnings plunged 44 percent and the Peoria-based company had the worst-performing stock on the Dow Jones industrial average in 2013.

The price of iron ore slumped to a 5-month low Friday, despite data showing Chinese imports of the steelmaking raw material hit a new record in 2013. The benchmark CFR import price of 62% iron ore fines at China's Tianjin fell to $130.70 a tonne on Friday, a level last seen at the early August and down more than 3% since the start of the year according to data supplied by The Steel Index.

Test your knowledge of blast design, explosives properties, OSHA/NFPA/OSM/ATF/MSHA regulations, bulk equipment safety, explosives history and much more with the Blaster Challenge. There are more than 1,300 questions can be used for learning, testing, training or just fun. It's a Blaster's Library exclusive that's available on DVD or flash drive.For Windows computers only.

Unexpected legal questions arise every day and with our partnership with LegalShield, you’ll have access to a high-quality law firm for as little as $20 a month. LegalShield has been offering affordable legal plans for 40 years, from real estate to document review, speeding tickets to will preparation. Their attorneys are here to advise you with any legal matter, no matter how traumatic or how trivial it may seem.

Although the 40th Annual Conference on Explosives and Blasting Technique is less than a month away, it's still not too late to register. But don’t wait too long. Space is very limited.

Don't miss out on this one-of-a-kind, hand-stitched ISEE conference t-shirt quilt. It’s made of the last 17 years of conference shirts, elegantly arranged on a full-sized quilt.

This handcrafted, collectible ISEE Anniversary Plunger Clock is expected to go quick at the Education Foundation auction. It's made of Northern Red Oak with inlayed 35th and 40th anniversary ISEE commemorative coins, highlighted with a hand-tooled leather bail handle. There are also two matching beverage coasters, courtesy of Dale Ramsey.

The video submission deadline for the Blaster’s R Us Video Round Up has been extended to Friday, Jan. 31. In an effort to make the submission process easier this year, we are trying out Dropbox and electronic submissions.

Once we receive a completed submission form, we’ll send you a Dropbox invitation on which you can post your video. We’ll get the video from there and relay electronically to the chair for review and then prepare a DVD prior to conference. We hope this will expedite the process and encourage more submissions, plus no cost for shipping. Please, no more than 6-minutes and note the accepted formats. Email Buck Hawkins at hawkins@isee.org to get submission instructions.