BARTON, Md. - Workers found the bodies of two miners in the cabs of heavy machinery Friday, three days after they were buried when a wall section collapsed in an open-pit coal mine.

BUCKHANNON, W.Va. - Federal regulators are scrambling to reassure the nation's 42,000 coal miners that the air packs they rely on in an emergency will work, even though the sole survivor of the Sago Mine disaster says four of his crew's devices malfunctioned.

Early winter is a gem of a season in Arizona, and it tends to kick off in the East Valley. For the next two months, rockhounds can browse events from Quartzsite to Tucson; one of the first of the year is the annual Flagg Gem and Mineral Show at Mesa Community College last weekend.

A 9-foot tall figure of a gold miner stolen from outside an Apache Junction restaurant has been recovered.

 Hit by the declining price of copper and slowing demand for the metal, Resolution Copper Co. is throttling back development of a huge and controversial mine near Superior.

PHOENIX - At first glance, a truck tire seems out of place among the monuments and tributes near the Arizona State Capitol.

Once you’re in the cave, colors reach out of the darkness. Lush greens, violet pinpoints and swirling blues float toward you. With a swipe of changing light they seem to move: The greens recede, the purples throb, ruby reds and phosphorous oranges jump from the black like a psychedelic fever dream.

SAN JUAN DE SABINAS, Mexico - Relatives of 65 trapped Mexican coal miners steeled themselves for a third day of anguished waiting Tuesday as U.S. mining experts were joining the hunt for workers trapped by a gas explosion hundreds of feet underground.

DUNLAP, TENN. - When Ed Lewis and some of his neighbors bought property on a scenic Tennessee mountain, they knew they didn’t own the mineral rights to the land, but they assumed a coal mining revival was unlikely.

You don’t have to be a rockhound to get something out of the Flagg Gem and Mineral Show, says organizer Ray Grant. It’s designed to appeal to people other than hard-core hounds.

You can’t really call yourself an Arizonan until you’ve scooted down Slide Rock. Carved by the rushing waters of Oak Creek, this 30-foot-long slide is among the most popular places to cool off in the summer.

LOS ANGELES - NASA's Spirit rover stopped to examine an unusual, flaky rock on the surface of Mars Sunday as scientists prepared to send it on a trek that would more than double its one-day distance record.

Higley coach Jim Beall calls them his “Nasties,” and Friday the Knights offensive line treated Sedona Red Rock to a nasty visit to the East Valley.

High up in the branches, 8-year-old Tino Hargiss sees his prize: an apple. It’s one of the last of the season, waiting to be plucked and enjoyed.

At first glance, a truck tire seems out of place among the monuments and tributes near the Arizona Capitol. But it isn’t just any truck tire. This one is as tall as Phoenix Suns star Amaré Stoudemire — standing on Steve Nash’s shoulders. It’s next to a shovel scoop that could hold a monster truck.

Gateway Pointe Elementary School student Kristin Hemlock recently received a $1,000 early childhood grant from McDonald's.

Arizona is a gem of a state — at least according to the numerous clubs devoted to rocks, minerals and gems. The state has the largest value of nonfuel mineral production in the nation — much of it copper-related, since we produce 65 percent of the nation’s domestic supply. And over the next week or so, three events are designed to let more people know about all things rock-related.

LOS ANGELES - An orbiting spacecraft has discovered a key mineral in bedrock on the Martian surface that suggests the planet might once have had an environment hospitable to life, scientists reported Thursday.

The Arizona State University Mars program gained plenty of headlines by developing instruments that explored the surface of the Red Planet.

The Arizona State University Mars program gained plenty of headlines by developing instruments that explored the surface of the Red Planet.

WASHINGTON - Mars was once soaked with water, enough to support life in a "good, habitable environment," NASA scientists said Tuesday after reviewing data from the Mars rover Opportunity, although they said the finding doesn't prove that life existed.

As an Arizona resident for over 40 years, and a former supervisor in the mining industry, I have seen firsthand the importance that mining plays in our state. Many of our towns are reliant on hard rock mining as a way to sustain a stable local economy. So when I saw that Congress introduced a mining policy bill, I felt I needed to write my Congressman to support it, and I urge everyone else to do the same. Like it or not, many of the products we use every day (like computers and light bulbs) are from foreign mineral sources. H.R. 2011 eases our dependence on those foreign minerals and ensures jobs in the mining industry for decades to come. We simply cannot forget that our state was built on the mining industry. We must not abandon it now.