Gold Mining Africa

      Africa is a major producer of gold in the world, producing up to 30% of global production in gold mining africa. Africa has historically been recognized for its exceptional gold resource potential yet remains relatively under-explored. The opportunity to acquire prospective gold resource projects in Africa, and assure security of tenure, is often lost through failure to recognize and acknowledge the interests of local stakeholders.Although gold mining industry in South Africa is one of the global leaders in gold production, it also has the highest average production costs in the world. Coupled with labour problems, lowering grades as well as several mines reaching the end of their lives, it is not anticipated that South African production will increase in the future. Although Zimbabwe has historically been a prominent gold producer in Africa, political and economic issues could cause production problems for local producers. Tanzania and Mali are rapidly becoming Africa's newest gold producers with several mines being commissioned or in final feasibility stages. Ghana is still a major gold producer in Africa. Other countries contribute steadily to Africa's gold output. Much of the recent and ongoing success in tapping these areas' mineable gold reserves is simply due to the fact that low-grade (to 1.3 grams / tonne gold) near-surface (oxidised) ores can be recovered economically. A new challenge will be to economically recover low-grade sulphide ore by open pit and/or underground methods.

     

      The gold mining industry is an important economic contributor by numerous countries around the world. Gold has been mined on every continent with the exception of Antarctica, and the top countries gold producing are China, Australia, Russia the United States. Other countries with high production include Africa, Peru and Canada. New mining efforts are taking place in places such as Ghana, Chile, Africa, Latin America and Asia. The gold mining industry has a long and rich history that dates back to the first millennium.Mining gold can be dangerous, costly and time consuming. It is estimated that more than 4.97 billion ounces has been extracted since the beginning of civilization. . Today, there are hundreds of gold mines located throughout the world and thousands of people who earn a living working in the mines. The largest gold mines in the world and most productive mines are Barrick Gold, Newmont Mining Corporation, Goldcorp, AngloGold Ashanti and Newmont Mining Corporation.

      In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the price of gold skyrocketed—in three years more than doubling from $800 an ounce to $1900. This massive spike drove an unprecedented global gold mining and exploration boom, much bigger than the Gold Rush of the 1800s. The rarity and the physical characteristics of Gold are the main reasons of the value of Gold being so precious. This is so, because it does not rust or oxidize and is an excellent conductor of electricity. There is no need to process gold very much when it is found as it is non -corrosive and untarnished, appearing where ever it is found in its pure form, usually evenly distributed deeply embedded in rock, making it a hard to retrieve mineral.

Some gold mining africa :

1. South Africa
      South Africa holds global gold resources and exports of gold output. Gold is the most important mining sector, contributing 27.4% in mineral revenues and employing 56% of the mine labour force. The last few years have seen some major restructuring of South Africa’s major gold producers with AngloGold, listed on the LSE and NYSE, and Gold Fields having become the countries major producers. Other major producers in South Africa are Harmony, Durban Roodepoort Deep, ARM Gold and Avgold. The 81 million-ounce resource at South Deep near Johannesburg is still burning cash after Gold Fields bought it for $3 billion in 2006. The mine has helped lift the company’s break-even price to $1,105 an ounce, according to Moody’s Investors Service. Yields on the company’s bonds climbed to a six-month high during July as gold fell 6.7 percent to $1,093 an ounce. The company in February abandoned its target of producing 700,000 ounces by the end of 2017, which was already two years behind schedule. As the only large-scale mechanized gold mine in South Africa, Gold Fields struggled to find the right skills and mining techniques, Chief Executive Officer Nick Holland said in May. 

2. Ghana
      Ghana is gold mining Africa and is Africa’s second largest gold producer, producing just over 72t gold in 2001, down slightly from the previous year. Southern Ghana has been considered one of the world’s most prolific regions for gold discoveries for some time, with both gold producers and explorers enjoying success there. Ghana also stacks up in terms of gold production numbers — in 2014, the country produced 90 tonnes of gold, making it one of the top gold-producing countries in the world.Asanko Gold with its Obotan project, which is expected to produce its first gold in the first quarter of 2016. The project consists of the Nkran pit and four satellite deposits, and is expected to produce 190,000 ounces of gold annually by the second quarter of 2016.

3. Mali 
      Mali is rapidly becoming a major producer of gold with several new mines being developed by Anglogold and Randgold Resources. Mali produced 41 t of gold in 2001, up significantly from previous years. The majority of this production is sourced from 3 large scale open cast operations. Mali, the third-largest gold producer in gold mining africa, has trimmed its forecast for gold production this year to 48.9 tonnes from 49.8 tonnes in 2014 as production from some mature mines dwindles.Lassana Guindo, technical advisor at the ministry, said industrial production would be around 44.9 tonnes this year, plus a further four tonnes of artisanal output."The fall in production 2015 is due essentially to the exhaustion of reserves in certain mines, notably Yatela which is closing and the Morila mines and Sadiola.
 
4. Tanzania
      Tanzania is the fourth-largest gold mining africa behind South Africa, Mali, and Ghana, and in 2010 accounted for 2% of the world's gold output. As in Mali, Tanzania is rapidly becoming an emerging gold producer in Africa.  Production gold mines africa doubled to 34 t in 2001, following the development of new mines by Barrick, Anglo Gold, Ashanti Gold and East African Gold Mines. The mining industry makes a significant contribution to the Tanzanian economy, mainly through the extraction of copper, gold, and silver, along with some industrial minerals and gemstones such as diamonds. International mining companies dominate the industry in the extraction of gold 

5. Zimbabwe 

      Zimbabwe produced 18t of gold in 2001, marking an ongoing decline in production as a result of political and social unrest in the country. The structure of the Zimbabwe gold mining industry comprises several small operations centered on central Zimbabwean Archaean greenstone terranes. Gold is Zimbabwe’s principal mined export.Zimbabwe’s total gold deliveries surged by nearly 50 percent to 1 546,16 kilogrammes (kg) in March 2015, from 1 040,49 kg recorded in March 2014, figures from the African Development Bank (AfDB) reveal. “Deliveries by both primary producers and small scale miners increased by 20,8 percent and  42,3 percent to 969, 64 kg and 576,53 kg, respectively during the same period. On a month-on-month basis, total gold deliveries increased by 32,2 percent to 1 546,16 kg in March 2015 compared to February 2015,” the bank said.Monthly deliveries by primary producers increased by 29 percent to 969,63 kg in March 2015, while deliveries by small-scale producers increased by 37,97 percent to 576,5 kg in March 2015.“Despite the increase in gold deliveries, declining international gold price since January 2015 is a cause for concern as it reduces the overall value of gold,” said AfDB, adding that volatility in precious metals prices has remained a challenge for economies dependent on mining.  

6. Guinea
      Guinea produces approximately 10 t gold each year, with production expected to rise slightly following expansions and development of new projects in the country. Several gold mines and projects are located in the northeast part of Guinea. Gold is becoming an important player in Guinea, with international exploration funding increasing substantially. Guinea has two main gold producers, Societe Miniere de Dinguiraye (SMD) and Societe Ashanti de Guinee (SAG). Semafo began production in 2002. SMD is 85% owned by Kenor of Norway (now Guinor Gold Corp) and 15% by the Guinea government and operate the Lero – Karta mine in northern Guinea.

Some Of The Facts About Gold Mining Africa Are  : 

     Gold mine production in gold mining africa is usually done underground and there are open pit operations in Ghana, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Cote de Ivoire and Zimbabwe. Most of South Africa’s production of Gold is in the Witwatersrand Placer Gold Deposits. These are mined exclusively underground. Exploration efforts centred on West Africa as well as East Africa are concentrating on surficial weathered gold-bearing lateritic and saprolitic rock, which is very suitable for relatively low cost surface mining methods, including heap-leach gold extraction

      The Witwatersrand area is well know to be the largest gold resource in the world which makes South Africa one of the world leaders in gold mining. "Egoli" meaning City of Gold is another name by which Johannesburg is called. Even though the geo-thermal conditions are favorable for gold mining africa, a large number of Machinery for air conditioning are still required to make the working conditions bearable underground. Even though the air is cooled down to thirty one degrees the workers have to work in humid conditions of 100 percent. 

      Av gold is the leading producers of gold in South African  and known to have operations producing outside the traditional Barberton greenstone belt in the Witwatersrand basin. In order to monitor the mine, Avgold installed a fully integrated information system – Prostar (Production Systems for Target) – that provides real-time information on all aspects of the operation, including geological data, mine operations, maintenance, materials management, production control and other parameters. The network is run from a centralised surface control room. The mine is also equipped with a leaky-feeder radio system for improved communications between surface and the entire underground operation. The mine has 24MW of refrigeration capacity for underground ventilation air, helping to maintain the operations at temperatures of below 27.5°C.

      Among the leading exploration and gold mining names in Africa is AngloGold Ashanti, who owns four mines in Ghana which are operational and other facilities in Tanzania, Guinea and Zimbabwe. Thirty two per cent of interest in AngloGold Ashanti is owned by LonMin.

      In Zimbabwe, Rio Tinto produces ten per cent of the gold produced annually by its 2 gold operations and its dump re-treatment facility. Rio Tinto’s global activities bring in one point five million ounces of gold on an annual basis.

      One of the biggest risks at Gold Mining Africa is the humanitarian issues that are very largely ignored. It can range from poor working conditions to pregnant women doing hard labor and even the use of child labor.