Monthly Archives: October 2021

Diamond Mining

Posted by on October 27, 2021 Comments Off on Diamond Mining

Here’s another look at mining in South Africa – this time, diamond mining

Diamond Mining

Source – https://www.mineralscouncil.org.za/sa-mining/diamonds

“DIAMONDS

Gem diamonds are, arguably, the ultimate luxury available to millions of people around the globe. They are available in quantities that most other gems fail to come anywhere near but the operating costs, the labour and the skills that go into producing even the smallest polished gem mean that prices at the jeweller’s counter reflect an individual gem’s luxury status.

Diamonds, it is well known, are an intricate lattice of carbon atoms, a crystal structure that imparts a hardness unmatched elsewhere in nature. And it is this hardness that makes the finest diamonds crucial in the manufacture of high-tech cutting, grinding and polishing tools. Without diamond grit (bort or boart as it is known) much of the world’s modern manufacturing would be made far more difficult than it is.

While diamond mining has been taking in place in South Africa for almost a century and a half, the country’s diamond sector is far from reaching the end of its life. Developments at the country’s three largest mines are designed to expand their outputs and to extend their lives to anywhere between a quarter and a half a century.

KEY FACTS AND FIGURES

The first diamond, the appropriately named Eureka, was discovered in South Africa near Hopetown in 1867 — it weighed 21.25 carats
The largest diamond discovered was the Cullinan found at the Premier Mine in 1905 — it weighted 3,106 carats uncut
At the start diamond discoveries were in alluvial deposits — in 1869 the first diamonds were found in yellow ground (and then in blue ground) near and in what was to become Kimberley, the world’s diamond capital (the diamond matrix was subsequently named kimberlite)
Diamonds were later discovered in significant quantities in kimberlites in what was then known as the Transvaal – the Cullinan mine in 1902 and Venetia (opened in 1992) and the Finsch mine in the Northern Cape opened in 1978
In 2019 South Africa produced 7.2 million carats of diamonds (9.9 million carats in 2018)
The total diamond sales in 2019 was R13.3 billion (R17.3 billion in 2018)
The diamond mining industry employed 15,728 people in 2019 (16,361 in 2018)
De Beers, the name which is synonymous with diamonds, was founded by Cecil Rhodes in 1888 and for many years dominated the world’s diamond market

LOCATION AND GEOLOGY

Natural diamonds were formed some 3.3 billion years ago in conditions of intense heat and pressure 150km below the earth’s surface.

The primary sources of all of South Africa’s diamonds are kimberlites in ancient, vertically dipping volcanic pipes, mostly located in the vicinity of the city of Kimberley and initially amenable to opencast. They were largely discovered in the latter part of the 19th century. Early in the 20th century, the Premier mine’s volcanic pipe was discovered near Pretoria and, in the final decades of the century, the Finsch mine’s kimberlite pipe was discovered near the town of Lime Acres in the Northern Cape and, later, the Venetia mine’s kimberlite near the town of Alldays in Limpopo province.

Alluvial diamonds and small diamondiferous fissures have been known and worked for many years along the southern banks of the Orange River as well as along and offshore of South Africa’s west coast.

DIAMOND MINING IN SOUTH AFRICA

The underground mining and recovery of diamonds continues to this day in the vicinity of Kimberley, the site of the early main discoveries in the 19th century. It is, however, on limited scale with a major focus on reprocessing old tailings dumps to recover diamonds left behind by older recovery processes.

To the west of Kimberley, and on the southern banks of the Orange River some 60km upstream from Port Nolloth, Trans Hex mines largely alluvial diamonds at its Baken and Bloeddrif operations.

Further north in Limpopo province, the Venetia mine owned by De Beers is South Africa’s largest diamond producer, recovering some 8Mct a year. Mining is currently by opencast methods but the depth limits of the open pit are being reached and an underground mine is being developed to continue production below the open pit. Underground mining will be by conventional block-caving or sub-level caving methods.

The Finsch mine, part of the Petra Diamonds group, is South Africa’s second largest producer and operates exclusively as an underground mine using conventional sub-level caving methods. Finsch produced 1.8Mct in 2019.

Near Pretoria and also part of the Petra group, plant optimisation at the Cullinan mine is ongoing – its production was 1.7Mct in 2019. Cullinan contains a world-class gross resource of 154.9Mct as at 30 June 2019, which suggests its mine life could be significantly longer than the current mine plan to 2030.”

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Dust Monitoring Equipment – providing equipment, services and training in dust fallout management to the mining industry.

Coal Mining South Africa

Posted by on October 20, 2021 Comments Off on Coal Mining South Africa

South Africa is known for it’s strong mining industry.  Let’s take a look at coal mining.

Coal Mining South Africa

Source – https://www.mineralscouncil.org.za/sa-mining/coal

“COAL

KEY FACTS AND FIGURES
The coal industry employed 92,230 people in 2019 (86,647 in 2018), representing about 19% of total employment in the mining sector
258.9 million tonnes produced in 2019 (253Mt in 2018) with total coal sales of R139.3 billion (R146 billion in 2018)
Net investment in the coal industry was R4.5 billion in 2010, decreasing to R2.5 billion in 2018 – an average decline of 15% per year. This is despite the fact that coal is a major source of electricity in the country.
The coal industry spent R61 billion procuring goods and services, most of it locally, thus contributing to the creation and maintaining of jobs in other industries
70% of coal volume is consumed domestically and more than 70% of electricity demand is generated from coal power
Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) serves as the primary export port
RBCT has a dedicated rail line

LOCATION AND GEOLOGY

South Africa’s coal resources are contained in the Ecca deposits, a stratum of the Karoo Supergroup, and date from the Permian period between 280 and 250 Ma. In general terms, they are largely located in the north-eastern quarter of the country. The coal measures are generally shallow, largely unfaulted and lightly inclined, making their exploitation suitable for opencast and mechanised mining.

At current rates of production, South Africa has reserves sufficient to satisfy its needs for more than a century. However the locus of production is gradually shifting away from the traditional Witbank or Emalahleni coal field as collieries approach the end of their productive lives. Emphasis is being placed on exploring and developing the Waterberg coal field as well as others in Limpopo province.

In general, South African coal has a comparatively medium ash content, which can be reduced by washing before sale. Higher grades of final product are delivered to export markets with the lower grade product burned by Eskom’s specially designed power station boiler hearths.

COAL MINING IN SOUTH AFRICA

Coal mining’s advent in South Africa can best be traced to the start of gold mining in the late 19th century, particularly on the Witwatersrand, with the first coal in appreciable tonnages being extracted on the Highveld coal field close to the nascent Witwatersrand gold mines. However, demand began to grow, slowly at first but then exponentially as the country entered a period of industrialisation during and following World War 2. This included a major programme of building power stations, particularly on the coal fields of Witbank and Delmas, as well as Sasol’s major coal-based synfuels and organic chemicals complex at Secunda. Essentially, South Africa was building an industrial future and technical skills base founded firmly on its principal fossil-fuel resource. Searches for other fossil fuels to date have not been successful, and the country’s fossil future remains firmly founded on coal.

For many years, the coal sector remained in local private hands – largely those of the old mining houses. But, particularly during the oil crises of the 1970s, foreign oil companies vied for coal resources and established new collieries destined especially to serve export markets. Following the democratic election of 1994, ownership was transferred increasingly into the hands of historically disadvantaged South Africans, in many cases exceeding the 26% black-ownership level specified by the Mining Charter for 2014.

The Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) was established in 1976 as a partnership between the then leading coal companies with an initial annual capacity of 12Mt. This has steadily increased with a fine balancing of the needs of rail capacity to carry coal from the inland collieries to the coast to its current 91Mt design capacity. For many years, as this export capacity was being expanded, seaborne coal prices were generally greater than domestic prices. Consequently there was considerable competition for capacity at the RBCT and the rail line that serves it. However, the commodities slump of the past few years and the glut of bulk commodities on international markets has resulted in export prices falling by more than half since 2013 as exporters from competing countries struggled to maintain their market shares.

As we approach the century’s second decade, the power stations built over 30 years ago will remain operational at least until mid-century. Eskom is busy building two modern thermal power stations, Medupi and Kusile, which are the country’s northernmost, and based on coal reserves in Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces. No other thermal stations are in the planning stages as government and state-owned Eskom consider the feasibility of taking the nuclear power route.

The coal sector employs 92,230 people, which is the third largest group in the mining sector after gold and platinum group metals. Their annual earnings are R27.9 billion.”

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Dust Monitoring Equipment – providing equipment, services and training in dust fallout management to the mining industry.

Mining South Africa

Posted by on October 13, 2021 Comments Off on Mining South Africa

Here is a little summary of the mining activities in South Africa

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Source: https://www.mineralscouncil.org.za/sa-mining

“MINING IN SA
Economic activity in modern-day South Africa has been centred on mining activities, their ancillary services and supplies. The country’s stock exchange in Johannesburg was established in 1887, a decade after the first diamonds were discovered on the banks of the Orange River, and almost simultaneously with the gold rush on the world-famous Witwatersrand.

In many ways, South Africa’s political, social and economic landscape has been dominated by mining, given that, for so many years, the sector has been the mainstay of the South African economy. Although gold, diamonds, platinum and coal are the most well-known among the minerals and metals mined, South Africa also hosts chrome, vanadium, titanium and a number of other lesser minerals.

KEY MINING FACTS:
In 2018 the mining sector contributed R351 billion to the South African gross domestic product (GDP)
A total of 456,438 people were employed in the mining sector in 2018
Each person employed in the mining sector has up to nine indirect dependants
The mining sector has, for many years, attracted valuable foreign direct investment to South Africa

MAJOR MINING SECTORS IN SA
Mining in South Africa - Coal

COAL
Coal mining’s advent in South Africa can best be traced to the start of gold mining in the late 19th century, particularly on the Witwatersrand, with the first coal in appreciable tonnages extracted on the Highveld coal field close to the nascent Witwatersrand gold mines.

Mining in South Africa - Platinum
PLATINUM
In South Africa the discovery of the first platinum nuggets dates back to 1924. The geologist Hans Merensky’s follow-up work resulted in the discovery of two deposits, each around 100km in length, which became known as the Bushveld Igneous Complex.

Mining in South Africa - Gold
GOLD
The Witwatersrand Basin remains the world’s largest gold resource and has produced more than two billion ounces of gold to date. After 120 years of mining, operations in this area have reached depths of 4,000m, with the natural rock temperatures reach about 50°C.

Mining in South Africa - Diamond
DIAMONDS
While diamond mining has been taking in place in South Africa for almost a century and a half, the country’s diamond sector is far from reaching the end of its life. Developments at the country’s three largest mines are designed to expand their outputs and to extend their lives to anywhere between a quarter and a half a century.”

 

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Dust Monitoring Equipment – providing equipment, services and training in dust fallout management to the mining industry.

Tiny But Toxic

Posted by on October 6, 2021 Comments Off on Tiny But Toxic

Enjoy the read and have a great day!

Image taken from article source - Coal Ash

Source: https://www.technology.org/2021/08/10/new-tests-can-detect-tiny-but-toxic-particles-of-coal-ash-in-soil/

“New tests can detect tiny but toxic particles of coal ash in soil

Posted August 10, 2021

Scientists at Duke University have developed a suite of four new tests that can be used to detect coal ash contamination in soil with unprecedented sensitivity. The tests are designed to analyze soil for the presence of fly ash particles so small that other tests might miss them. The U.S. National Science Foundation-funded results are published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Fly ash is part of coal combustion residuals that are generated when a power plant burns pulverized coal. The tiny fly ash particles, which are often microscopic in size, contain high concentrations of arsenic, selenium and other toxic elements, many of which have been enriched through the combustion process.

While the majority of fly ash is captured by traps in the power plant and disposed of in coal ash impoundments and landfills, some particles escape and are emitted into the environment. Over time, these particles can accumulate in soil downwind from the plant, potentially posing risks to the environment and human health.

“Because of the size of these particles, it’s been challenging to detect them and measure how much fly ash has accumulated,” said Avner Vengosh. “Our new methods give us the ability to do that — with high level of certainty.”

Coal combustion residuals are the largest industrial solid wastes produced in the United States. When soil contaminated with fly ash is disturbed or dug up, dust containing the ash can be transported through the air into nearby homes and other indoor environments. Inhaling dust that contains fly ash particles with high levels of toxic metals has been linked with lung and heart disease, cancer, nervous system disorders and other ill effects.

“Being able to trace the contamination back to its source location is essential for protecting public health and identifying where remediation efforts should be focused,” said Zhen Wang, who led the study. “These new methods complement tests we’ve already developed for tracing coal ash in the environment, and expand our range of investigation.”

The new tests are designed to be used together to provide independent corroborations of whether fly ash particles are present in a soil sample and if so, at what proportion to the total soil.

Julie Pett-Ridge, a program director in NSF’s Division of Earth Sciences, added that “the combination of these specific geochemical tools is a powerful approach, establishing a reliable means of detecting the potential environmental risks of coal ash in surface soils.””

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Dust Monitoring Equipment – providing equipment, services and training in dust fallout management to the mining industry.