Hugh B. Lee, Sr. pioneered revolutionary surface coal mining technology, first as Vice President and General Manager and then as President of Maumee Collieries Company, Terre Haute, Indiana, the oldest surface coal mining company in the United States. Hugh Lee’s invention of ANFO (Ammonium Nitrate/Fuel Oil) blasting processes undoubtedly stands as his most enduring contribution to the mining industry. His use of increasingly larger draglines and large-diameter vertical drilling in combination with ANFO explosives for overburden drilling and blasting were also key technological advances.
ANFO explosives truly revolutionized blasting practice around the world, not only in coal mines but in quarries and hard rock mines as well. ANFO blasting sharply lowered the cost of explosives, and over time ANFO blasting has saved the mining industry untold billions of dollars.
The explosion of a shipload of ammonium nitrate fertilizer at Texas City in 1947 intrigued Hugh Lee and prompted his intensive investigation of ANFO blasting procedures during the early 1950s. Months of experimentation by Lee and Maumee’s Explosives Engineer, Bob Akre, went into the commercial development and patenting of the ANFO process. Others later modified ANFO blasting procedures such that within a few years ANFO blasting was considered generic. ANFO blasting is now universally used to the great benefit of the world-wide mining industry.
Hugh Lee became widely known in the coal industry during the protracted strike of 1949 - 1950, representing Midwest surface mines and sitting alongside George Love, President of Consolidation Coal and across the table from John L. Lewis in many negotiating sessions. Lee was an active member and Director of the National Coal Association and the American Mining Congress.
In 1951, Stewart and Lloyds, a major English steel company, sent a team to the United States to observe surface mining practices in the coal industry that might be applicable in iron ore mining. Techniques and systems used at Maumee Collieries impressed these visitors more than those of any other company. They engaged Hugh Lee to assist them in their operations. Impressed with his work for Stewart and Lloyds, the Sierra Leone Development Company subsequently retained Hugh Lee as a consultant for its large iron ore project in West Africa.
Born in Columbus, Ohio, Hugh Lee earned a degree in mining engineering, with highest honors at Ohio State University, which has recognized him as a Distinguished Alumnus. Prior to his many years at Maumee Collieries, Hugh Lee engaged in mining silver in New Mexico and gold and chromite mining in Canada. He then served as General Manager of the Phosphate Mining Company, a major producer, in Nichols, Florida.
