Worldwide, artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) includes an estimated forty million participants, and ASM activities indirectly support more than 150 million people across eighty countries in the global South (Intergovernmental Forum, 2017: 2).In the South African context, the number of people employed in the sector is estimated to be between 10,000 and …
South African gold mining is located in the Witwatersrand Basin, the world' s largest goldfield which stretches in an arc over 400 km and has seven discrete gold fields, 98 gold-bearing reefs and
Consequently, less raw material input contributes in reducing the environmental negative impacts of mining. There is also an aspect of material efficiency which basically refers to the manufacturing of products with fewer materials thus leading to less consumption of raw materials. ... Illegal gold fuelling gang battles in South Africa, by ...
Political changes can significantly impact mining companies' share prices and commodity prices in countries with significant production shares, such as West Africa-focused gold mining companies and the Republic of Guinea, which …
West Africa was one of the world's greatest producers of gold in the Middle Ages. Trade in the metal went back to antiquity but when the camel caravans of the Sahara linked North Africa to the savannah interior, the trade really took off. A succession of great African empires rose off the back of the gold trade as salt, ivory, and slaves were just some of the …
Introduction. Africa is on the verge of an unprecedented mining boom. This boom is attracting tens of billions of dollars in foreign investment (Janneh & Ping 2011; Zhang 2011) and will result in substantial economic growth and development, but it also carries big risks for African societies and the environment.Here we highlight potential environmental threats posed by the …
The main environmental impacts of platinum mining Solid waste – tailings dams and waste rock dumps 580 000 tons ore/ton Pt produced; Plus waste rock: 20% – 90% of ore (UGM) Water consumption: 273 to 544 m3/kg PGM (average about 400 m3/kg) Energy consumption (mine, concentrator and smelter): 168 to 256 GJ/ kg PGM CO 2e emissions: 40 to 50 t/kg PGM
South Africa - Diamonds, Gold, Imperialism: South Africa experienced a transformation between 1870, when the diamond rush to Kimberley began, and 1902, when the South African War ended. Midway …
(Cambridge, MA, October 12, 2016)—South Africa has failed to meet its human rights obligations to address the environmental and health effects of gold mining in and …
Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) activities have contributed, in most cases, to the rural development of some African countries. Practically, these activities have influenced the ...
Mining activities, including prospecting, exploration, construction, operation, maintenance, expansion, abandonment, decommissioning and repurposing of a mine can impact social and environmental systems in a range of positive and negative, and direct and indirect ways. Mining can yield a range of benefits to societies, but it may also cause conflict, not least …
Uranium accumulates in the river sediment and soil in this region, with a serious negative impact on the vegetation surrounding the water bodies, and poses serious threats to the farming industry adjacent to mining areas (De Wet, ... a case study from a gold mining site in South Africa. J. Hydrol., 297 (2004), pp. 178-196.
Gold mining in South Africa is a wellestablished industry with technical skills; South Africa has large gold reserves and resources but accessing these will involve going even deeper underground. Mining companies invest heavily in innovation and skills training to build an even greater understanding of the resource base and how to mine it;
In more than 150 years of mining history, southern Africa has consistently been the dominant producer of the world's diamond supply (McKechnie, 2019), producing some of the world's largest and ...
As gold prices soar in the post-pandemic world economy, there are concerns that illegal mining activity in South Africa may be rising sharply. Tackling such a surge may prove difficult, given the history of illegal mining in the country. Sources in the industry have described how they face a number of challenges, including deteriorating law-enforcement capacity, endemic corruption …
The study quoted multiple negative environmental impacts of resource exploitation and the recurrence of resource curse conflicts that manifested in Niger Delta oil sites of Nigeria, gold mine areas in Ghana and South Africa as well as the copper sites in Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia as the manifestation of the people's resistance ...
Overall, perceived negative impacts prevailed, mainly related to environmental pollution, change in livelihoods or social disruption. Perceived positive impacts on health and well-being were related to interventions implemented by the mines such as new or improved water sources, health care facilities, roads and schools.
2017. Nuisance for the people living in areas covered by the direct or indirect impact of the mining industry is an important social problem. The development of the mining industry depends on high environmental requirements, in …
But South Africa's share of the global mining exploration expenditure dropped a staggering 20.5 per cent in 2020 to rank only sixth in Africa and represent less than one per cent of the global exploration spend – its lowest place in decades and a devastating position for a country whose geological attractiveness should protect its status as ...
South Africa: Gold, coal: National: 43: Corno and de Walque (2012) O: ORI: Statistical analysis: ... Concerning negative impacts on mining community health and safety, the indicators "risk of mortality for communicable and non-communicable diseases" and "risk of death due to air and water pollution" are in SHDB, but are not sector ...
Thousands of abandoned gold mines are scattered across South Africa, polluting the water with toxics and filling the air with noxious dust. For the millions of people who live around these derelict sites, the health impacts can …
The impact of acid mine drainage in South Africa. S Afr J Sci. 2011;107(5/6), Art. #712, 7 pages. ... The impact of gold mining on the Witwatersrand on the rivers and karst system of Gauteng and North West Province, South Africa. Afr J Earth Sci. 2012;68:24-43.
Illegal gold mining has been on the rise for the past decade in South Africa. Worsening ore grades, rising costs (as shafts have been sunk ever deeper), bouts of labour and social unrest and falling investment in new mines have all …
Abstract: Gold mining has serious negative environmental impacts, especially due to pollution emanating from tailings storage facilities (TSFs, tailings dams, slimes dams). The most...
Gold mining in South Africa typically involves methods such as panning, sluicing, dredging, hard rock mining, and by-product mining. ... Impact of Mining on Women and Families. Miners were usually recruited from all over the country, thus provisions needed to be made with regards to their living conditions. They were instructed to live in ...
Mining in South Africa has been a contentious issue since 15-year-old Erasmus Stephanus Jacobs discovered South Africa's first diamond, the Eureka, in Hopetown in 1867. ... Within a year of gold findings, the area had some 7 000 …
An example of the negative impacts of mining is the poignant case of the Twickenham mine owned by Amplats (Anglo American Platinum) in South Africa. The mine …
Gold mining has serious negative environmental impacts, especially due to pollution emanating from tailings storage facilities (TSFs, tailings dams, slimes dams). The most important forms of pollution from TSFs are acid mine drainage (AMD) and high levels of potentially toxic elements …
Writing in A History of South Africa: Social and Economic in 1941, CW de Kiewiet pointed out that gold mining in South Africa was very expensive because of the small amount of gold in vast tonnages of rock: "The concept of an industry that was colossally wealthy only on condition that it jealously watched each penny of its expenditure is ...
South Africa >6.5: Major: chrome, gold, vanadium, manganese, and PGM's. ... Some of the negative social impacts of mining may include a high crime rate and conflicts (Venkateswarlu et al., 2016), displacement of farmlands, and families (Tello, 2015).
Moreover, the negative impact of coal mining is undermining South Africa's efforts to strengthen food security and accomplish SDG objective 2 of eradicating hunger. Bench Marks Foundation ( 2014 ) reported that the availability of land and access to clean water for agriculture and livestock cultivation in South Africa has been severely ...
While global gold mine production has grown by 26 percent since 2010, in Africa it has risen by nearly 60 percent, and in at least 10 African countries it has more than doubled.
Although negative impacts from mining activi-ties are inevitable, many can be avoided during the mining cycle (during the pre-development, ... South Africa and Zambia. But the significance of mining employment to economies has changed following liberalisation.
South Africa Department of Minerals and Energy (2007). South Africa is estimated, by the US Geological Survey, to have 6000 metric tons of gold reserves. A full 95% of South Africa's gold mines are underground operations, reaching depths of over 2.5 miles. Coupled with declining grades, increased depth of mining, and a slide in the
Gold mining has serious negative environmental impacts, especially due to pollution emanating from tailings storage facilities (TSFs, tailings dams, slimes dams). The …
This report aims to provide detailed insights into the South African Mining sector, covering companies from sub-industries such as coal, general mining, gold mining, platinum, and precious metals. The JSE lists thirty-nine companies in the ... The deterioration of Transnet Freight Rail has had a particularly negative impact on the mining sector ...
Mining has had a larger impact on shaping the South African economy than any other sector. It transformed a predominantly rural economy into an industrial one. ... Moreover, it is worth noting that the gold mining industry is quite beneficial for the country's economy. According to 2018 data, South Africa exported gold, which was estimated at ...
Dams for the Gold Mining Industry, South Africa' (MSc Thesis, North-West Universi ty, 2016), iii. 8 David Laurence, 'Optimisation of the Mine Closure Process' (2006) 14 Journal of Cleaner ...
of such impacts. A recent literature on the local and subnational effects of natural resources ... Ghana is the second-largest gold producer in Africa after South Africa, with gold production averaging 77 tons per year (Gajigo, Mutambatsere, and Mdiaya 2012). In 2011, Ghana's ... Similar to gold mining in other African countries (see Gajigo ...