Gold Mining Industry In South Africa

      

       The country of South Africa is the producer of gold in the world. The successful gold mining industry in South Africa has had a significant impact on the development of africa as an advanced an economically successful country. Mining in South Africa has been the main driving force behind the history and development of Africa's most advanced and richest economy, after Nigeria The nation's gold mining efforts began with the discovery of a diamond stone at the Orange River in 1867. Soon after, the Kimberly pipes were discovered and explored, and gold rushes began to Pilgrim's Rest and Barberton. The Witwatersrand gold rush took place in 1886. This historical event began the development of the gold field in the area and formed the well known city of Johannesburg which is a region africa gold mines. Known as the Witwatersrand basin, this popular area has generated more than 41,000 tons of gold from Africa Mining and continues to be mined today. It is a massive area that encompasses more than 400km.

      The gold mining industry in South Africa is successful due to the countries large gold in africa, which make up a substantial portion of the gold reserves and gold prospecting in the entire world, with some estimates over 50%. The US Geological survey believes that the country has over 6000 metric tons of precious metal, but 95% of it is located underground. The future of gold mining industry in South Africa depends on the level of gold, that the mines can produce. However, the extraction of gold has recently declined because of rising costs. These higher costs are a direct result of the declining grades, an increase in the underground depth of the mines and a declining gold price.

       In more recent years, gold rushes around the world saw the establishment of regions such as California, Victoria in Australia and the Transvaal in South Africa by luring thousands of wealth seekers into built-over-night shanty towns. Most gold rushes weren’t sustained and many areas became abandoned as the disillusion of quick money wore off. This paved the way for the formalised gold mining sector to take control and regulate the gold mining in South Africa. Today, companies like Anglo American, Harmony Gold and BHP Billiton, etc. are established as industry managers of gold mining in South Africa. Today, new projects are underway that will help to reshape the gold mining industry in South Africa and the country to remain at the top of the world's gold production. Top projects include Goldfield's South Deep mine in the Gauteng Province, an expansion of the Doornkop South Reef mine, the Lily mine, the Barbrook mine project. Many of these projects will use new technology and innovations, better employee organization and improved labor relations to ensure that they are successful and allow the mining industry to remain an integral part of the nation's economy.

       The gold in the Witwatersrand Basin area was deposited in ancient river deltas, having been washed down from surrounding gold-rich greenstone belts to the north and west. Rhenium-osmium isotope studies indicates that the gold in those mineral deposits came from unusual three billion year old mantle sourced intrusions known as komatiites present in the greenstone belts. The Vredefort Dome impact which lies within the basin and the nearby Bushveld Igneous Complex are both about a billion years younger than the interpreted age of the gold.

       Among the gold mines africa are two of the deepest mines in the world. The East Rand Mine, in Boksburg, extends to a depth of 3,585 metres (11,762 ft). A 4-metre (13 ft) shallower mine is located at TauTona in Carletonville, though plans are in place to begin work on an extension to the TauTona mine, bringing the total depth to over 3,900 metres (12,800 ft) and breaking the current record by 127 feet (39 m). At these depths the temperature of the rocks are 140 °F (60 °C).

      New mines, such as the Burnstone Mine, 80 km south-east of Johannesburg with an estimated value of ZAR 3, 5 billion, continue to open. Typical of gold mining in South Africa, the mining project estimated to have a lifespan of 25 years. The opening of other gold mining projects, such as the R1 billion Doornkop South Reef Mine – expected to deliver 82.8 tonnes of gold within a 20-year period – adds to the idea that gold mining in South Africa is still a viable and lucrative industry.

      Gold mining in South Africa typically involves methods such as panning, sluicing, dredging, hard rock mining, and by-product mining. For most effective gold mining in South Africa, the method used is hard rock mining, since reserves are typically fully encased in rock deep underground. The invention of industrial air cooling and air quality control systems saw gold mines reach unprecedented depths – the deepest being 3 900 metres.

     Gold processing in africa gold mines is accompanied by chemical beneficiation, where chemicals, such as cyanide, or activated carbon are added to rough ore and processed – sometimes with heat, water, agitation, electro-winning etc. Scattered mining is employed and the orebody accessed mainly via footwall tunnelling, raised on dip of the reef and stoped on strike. Kopanang uses conventional semi-autogenously grinding and carbon-in-pulp (CIP) technology to process gold. Modern gold beneficiation methods can produce gold of 99.9999% purity. Making the refining process more thorough and economically viable, gold mining in South Africa projects, such as the ERGO Mines Joint Venture in Brakpan, will facilitate the re-processing of 1.7 billion tonnes of gold tailings to refine a further 15 million ounces of gold.