Academic literature on the topic 'Gold mines and mining – South Africa – Mpumalanga'
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Journal articles on the topic "Gold mines and mining – South Africa – Mpumalanga"
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Worku, Zeleke. "Determinants of viability in junior mining companies in the Witbank region of South Africa." Problems and Perspectives in Management 15, no. 3 (September 19, 2017): 119–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ppm.15(3).2017.10.
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An exploratory survey was undertaken in order to explore the underlying causes of bankruptcy in junior mining companies operating in the Witbank region of Mpumalanga Province based on data gathered from 120 highly experienced employees of junior mining companies operating at Witbank. Perception on barriers to productivity in junior mines was measured based on a scale introduced by Henisz, Dorobantu and Nartey (2014). Data was gathered on 24 socioeconomic variables. Data was analysed by performing logit analysis. The key finding of study was that 74.17% of respondents believed that their mines were profitable and productive. Productivity of mines was found to be undermined high cost of transport [OR = 4.51; P = 0.003; 95% CI = (2.26, 7.58)], low demand for mine products [OR = 2.65; P = 0.009; 95% CI = (1.86, 6.14)] and inability to improve the public images of junior mining companies [OR = 2.53; P = 0.015; 95% CI = (1.80, 5.76)].
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Leonard, Llewellyn. "Mining Corporations, Democratic Meddling, and Environmental Justice in South Africa." Social Sciences 7, no. 12 (December 7, 2018): 259. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/socsci7120259.
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During Apartheid, the mining industry operated without restraint and compromised the ecology, the health of mining workers, and local communities. The lines between the mining industry and government was often unclear with the former influencing government decisions to favour uncontrolled operations. Although new post-Apartheid regulations were designed to control negative mining impacts, the mining industry and the state still have a close relationship. Limited academic research has empirically examined how mining corporations influence democracy in South Africa. Through empirical investigation focusing on Dullstroom, Mpumalanga and St. Lucia, KwaZulu-Natal, this paper examines how mining corporations, directly and indirectly, influence democratic processes at the macro state and micro community levels. At the macro level, this includes examining mining companies influencing government decision-making and enforcement to hold mines accountable for non-compliance. At the micro level, the paper examines mining companies influencing democratic processes at the local community level to get mining developments approved. Findings reveal that political connections between the mining industry and government, including collusion between mining corporations and local community leadership, have influenced mining approval and development, whilst excluding local communities from decision-making processes. Industrial manipulation has also influenced government in holding corporations accountable. This has contributed towards not fully addressing citizen concerns over mining development. Democracy in post-Apartheid South Africa, especially for mining development is, therefore, understood in the narrow sense and exposures the realities of the ruling party embracing capitalism. Despite challenges, civil society may provide the avenue for upholding democratic values to counter mining domination and for an enabling political settlement environment.
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Mhlongo, Sphiwe Emmanuel, and George Oluwole Akintola. "Artisanal and small-scale mining activities as post-mining land use in abandoned mine sites: a case of Giyani and Musina areas, Limpopo Province of South Africa." Journal of Degraded and Mining Lands Management 8, no. 3 (April 1, 2021): 2815–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.15243/jdmlm.2021.083.2815.
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South Africa has many artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) activities that some are registered and others informal and illegal. This paper presents an overview of ASM operations in the vicinity of abandoned mine sites found in Giyani and Musina areas, Limpopo Provine of South Africa. It looks at the mining processes, environmental problems, and health and safety risks of ASM in the area. It also provideds a discussion of practical ways of dealing with the problems of artisanal and small-scale mining operations in a harmonized way with the rehabilitation of the abandoned mine sites. The exploitation of waste rock dumps for aggregate production in Musina demonstrated that formalized ASM activities can be the best alternative uses of the abandoned mine sites. However, artisanal gold mining around Giyani revealed the health and safety risks and environmental problems of these operations. The artisanal gold mining activities worsened the health and safety and the environmental problems of the abandoned mine sites. Therefore, this paper recommends that the efforts of coming up with strategies to formalize and regulate artisanal mining in South Africa be deepened for these activities to be accepteble as sustainable as post-mining land-uses in abandoned mines.
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Mainardi, Stefano. "Geological occurrence and economic feasibility in closing decisions by gold mines." South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences 2, no. 2 (June 30, 1999): 240–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/sajems.v2i2.2576.
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With successful exploration of deposits often lagging behind mineral extraction, and the international price of gold showing no signs of recovery, mining companies are under pressure to reassess their strategies. The decision whether or not to close a mining activity is the outcome of a process of adapting expectations to a changing economic and geological environment. Part of the literature emphasizes the role of the mineral price and operating costs. However, the extent, pace and intertemporal allocation of metal recovery is in practice determined by a complex interaction of both these with other factors. Following a review of theoretical interpretations, and a reformulation of associated hypotheses, binary-response models are applied to a sample of gold mines in mainly three major southern hemisphere producers (Australia, South Africa and Chile).
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Olebogeng, David Daw. "Challenges and Opportunity of Housing for Black Miner in South Africa." European Journal of Economics and Business Studies 6, no. 1 (January 1, 2020): 28. http://dx.doi.org/10.26417/ejes.v6i1.p28-36.
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Mine companies are experiencing a change in the political system of the country (South Africa). This political change from apartheid government to the government of Democratic has brought about a totally different system of government; this change has led to the transformation of mines companies from employment section to housing of mineworkers from their operation system, how are the mines companies / houses dealing with this change? Changes in the political and economy of the gold mining in the 1970s - 1980s have prompted management to begin moving away from migratory labour and implementing alternative accommodation strategies for black mine workers. The paper aims to provide some understanding of the current housing situation and housing needs of mineworkers more than a decade after the abolition of the legislation which had shaped the living environments of mineworkers in South Africa, and will look at the different I alternative approaches for housing black mine workers and how they can afford housing.
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Morrell, Robert. "Farmers, Randlords and the South African state: Confrontation in the Witwatersrand Beef Markets, c. 1920–1923." Journal of African History 27, no. 3 (November 1986): 513–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021853700023306.
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The pervasive importance of gold mining in modern South Africa has become embedded in South African historiography. Despite this, little research has been done to ascertain its impact on the other major sector of the economy, agriculture.The gold mines had a profound effect upon one particular branch of agriculture – beef farming. The mines purchased large amounts of beef and were able to use their buying power to confront beef farmers in the marketplace. In the recession following the First World War, the mines were caught in a profitability crisis that was to lead to the Rand Revolt in 1922. One of the ways in which mining attempted to ease its position was by cutting back on the cost of the meat it supplied to its African labour force. This initially involved co-operation with a powerful cold-storage company, big ranchers and a number of smaller farmers to form a Meat Producers Exchange. This fragile alliance fell apart when farmers, themselves on the verge of bankruptcy, attempted to take control of the Exchange and raise beef prices. The farmers failed and in 1923 the exchange collapsed.The victory of the mining and cold-storage companies rested on a number of factors. Farmers were unable to organize effectively because of the defection of ranchers to the mines. Changing economic conditions in 1922 and 1923 permitted the mines to terminate their co-operation with beef farmers. Finally the mines were able to call upon the state for support. The state ensured the demise of the Exchange and the defeat of the beef farmers. In the process it showed itself capable of intervening decisively to protect the interests of certain sections of capital.
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Williams, Chavon R., Joy J. Leaner, Jaco M. Nel, and Vernon S. Somerset. "Mercury concentrations in water resources potentially impacted by coal-fired power stations and artisanal gold mining in Mpumalanga, South Africa." Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A 45, no. 11 (August 12, 2010): 1363–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10934529.2010.500901.
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Huang, Mingwei. "The Chinese Century and the City of Gold: Rethinking Race and Capitalism." Public Culture 33, no. 2 (May 1, 2021): 193–217. http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/08992363-8917178.
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Abstract This article tells a story about the unfolding “Chinese Century” in South Africa centered on China Malls, wholesale shopping centers for Chinese goods that have cropped up along Johannesburg's old mining belt since the early 2000s. Based in ethnographic and historical analysis, the essay takes a palimpsestic approach to imagine how Chinese capital enters into a terrain profoundly shaped by race, labor, and migration and is entangled with the afterlives of gold. Chinese migrant traders in South Africa draw on legacies of migrant mine labor and refashion processes that devalue Black labor. Whereas these histories are lost upon Chinese newcomers, African workers experience working for “the Chinese” through the memory of the mines. With the aim of theorizing emergent formations of race and capital in the Chinese Century, the essay threads this new epoch through the history of colonial and racial capitalism of the City of Gold.
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Packard, Randall M. "The Invention of the ‘Tropical Worker’: Medical Research and the Quest for Central African Labor on the South African Gold Mines, 1903–36." Journal of African History 34, no. 2 (July 1993): 271–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021853700033351.
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In 1903 the South African mining industry began recruiting African labor from Central Africa in order to shore up their labor supplies. From the outset, Central African recruitment was problematic, for Central African mine workers died at very high rates. The primary source of Central African mortality was pneumonia. In response to this high mortality the Union government threatened to close down Central African recruitment, a threat which they carried out in 1913. From 1911 to 1933, the mining industry fought to maintain, and then after 1913 to regain access to Central African labor. Of central importance in this struggle were efforts to develop a vaccine against pneumonia. While the mine medical community failed to produce an effective vaccine against pneumonia, the Chamber of Mines successfully employed the promise of a vaccine eventually to regain access to Central African Labor in 1934. The mines achieved this goal by controlling the terrain of discourse on the health of Central African workers, directing attention away from the unhealthy conditions of mine labor and toward the imagined cultural and biological peculiarities of these workers. In doing so the mines constructed a new social category, ‘tropical workers’ or ‘tropicals’. The paper explores the political, economic and intellectual environment within which this cultural construction was created and employed.
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Wright, C. Y., M. Matooane, M. A. Oosthuizen, and N. Phala. "Risk perceptions of dust and its impacts among communities living in a mining area of the Witwatersrand, South Africa." Clean Air Journal 24, no. 1 (June 3, 2014): 22–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/caj/2014/24/1.7052.
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Mining is a major economic activity in many developing countries. In South Africa, gold mining has played a significant role in the development and sustenance of the country's economy, with both positive and negative consequences. In gold mining areas, tailings dams and mine dumps are significant sources of ambient dust, known to be a nuisance, and health risk, to communities living near them and who must find appropriate coping mechanisms to protect themselves. A qualitative study based on five focus groups with sixty-two participants of different ages and sex was carried out in the Witwatersrand mining district of South Africa. All focus groups agreed that they had noticed dust in the air where they live, stating that the dust came largely from mine dumps but also from other sources. They agreed that the dust causes, among others, health problems, and both short-term and long-term coping mechanisms for protecting themselves against excess dust were mentioned yet considered inadequate, i.e. closing windows and doors, watering their yards, paving their yards and planting trees. Little support from government, mines and other organisations was identified as an important perceived barrier to resolving the dust problem. Means for communication of communities' perceptions of the impacts, risks and possible mitigation / adaption measures associated with dust need to be created and supported in a formal risk management plan.
Dissertations / Theses on the topic "Gold mines and mining – South Africa – Mpumalanga"
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Joubert, Barend Daniel. "Small-scale gold mining in southern Africa." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005615.
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The general characteristics of gold deposits are reviewed, and a classification of gold deposits based on mineability is proposed. Evaluation, mlnlng and beneficiation methods are briefly discussed. It is concluded that the most viable targets for small-scale companies comprise deposits that require the least pre-production time and expense. Great potential exists for the small-scale reclamation of gold from tailings dumps and abandoned mines in Southern Africa. There is also potential for developing new smallscale gold mines in the Archaean greenstone terranes of the Zimbabwean and Kaapvaal cratons.
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Xingwana, Lumkwana. "Management perceptions regarding skills shortages in gold mines." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1007959.
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The skills shortages in mining and mineral sector had existed for a decade and had a widespread effect on South Africa economy. It affects the level of economic productivity and reduces the country’s capacity to develop a knowledge society. This, in turn, affects the country’s functioning in the global economy. Despite the sector’s best efforts, the shortages continue to grow and threaten the delivery of projects and growth plans. Some researchers contend with the view that the persistence of skills shortages in mining and mineral sector is largely due to entrenched attitudes among both the industry and the community. They claim that employers have the means to change the educational profile of the subsectors by appointing recruits with higher levels of schooling. However, owing to the limited number of higher educated people living in the communities surrounding the mining operations and lack of interest in mining of people with higher levels of education, to name but few, employers are perceived to have a habit of employing people with little skills. The current study was aimed at investigating the impact of skills shortage on organisational performance, propensity to leave, competitive advantage and sustainability, from the management perceptive. The main objective of this study was to incorporate and embed previous research findings and theories into a comprehensive hypothetical model. A hypothetical model showed various factors that may influence skills shortage. Four independent variables (working environment, employment conditions, resources and education and training) were identified as variables that may influence skills shortage; and mediating variable (skills shortage) was also identified as a variable that have potential to affect dependent variables (organisational performance, propensity to leave, competitive advantage and sustainability) of gold mining sector. Furthermore, eight hypotheses were developed to test the relationship between independent, mediating and dependent variables. All these variables were clearly defined and operationalized with various items obtained from measuring instruments used in other similar studies. A purposive sample of 343 respondents was drawn from the population. A seven-point Likert scale and structured questionnaire were administered in person to the respondents and of which 300 were usable and subjected further to several statistical analyses. The validity and reliability of the measuring instrument was evaluated using significant effect p< = 0.001 and Pearson’s correlation test (α = 0.05). Data gathered were fed to and analysed by STATISTICA (version 10) and factor analysis and regression analyses were the statistical procedures used to test the significance of the relationships between the various independent and dependent variables. Consequently, working environment, resources and education and training were three independent variables that were identified as having ability to predict propensity to leave, competitive advantage and sustainability. An attempt was made to establish whether various demographic variables have an influence on mediating and dependent variables through the introduction of gender and position in the organisation while conducting an Analysis of Variance and Multiple linear regressions, but they obtained negative values. The conclusion is that demographic variables do not have over mediating and depended variables. The findings of this study states that with conducive working environment, availability of resources, the high levels of education and training, the country could produce skills that would reduce propensity to leave, drive competitive advantage and sustainability, innovation and entrepreneurship, create competitive advantages and boost employment sustainability.
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Naidoo, Kumendrie. "Considerations for stope gully stability in gold and platinum mines in South Africa." Diss., Pretoria : [s.n.], 2001. http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-11302005-123445/.
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Mather, Diarmid John. "An approach to analyzing gold supply from the South African gold mines." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002750.
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The gold mining fIrm in South Africa is viewed as a normal fIrm producing gold bearing ore but faced with a quality constraint (grade). Grade, however, is never uniformly distributed in a metalliferous deposit and because high grades are mined fIrst, the quality constraint becomes increasingly severe with cumulated production. The fIrm will continue to mine gold bearing ore until it reaches its mining limit where the marginal cost of recovering the gold is equal to the marginal revenue received from that gold and at that point the economic deposit becomes exhausted. Because the mining limit is determined by cost/technology and price, it is not fIxed and thus the point of economic exhaustion may change. When high grades are mined fIrst the relationship between the tonnage of gold ore and the grade describes the rate at which the grade is expected to fall with cumulated production. In this thesis, the grade for South African Witwatersrand gold producers is modelled to fall exponentially. The mining limit, determined by costs/technology and price, can be expressed in terms of grade. By predicting the decay in grade relative to the tonnage of gold ore and applying a mining limit, a life-time size of the economic deposit can be estimated. The remaining life of a producing gold mine can then be determined and the flow of gold predicted. An empirical treatment using the disk model of a gold deposit is undertaken for a gold mine, a goldfIeld and the total Witwatersrand gold deposit. A dynamic econometric analysis of expected mining costs and gold prices is not attempted; however certain examples are used to illustrate the applicability of the model and the influence of the South African gold mining tax formula on the life of the mine.
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Wessels, Deon. "The transformation of the South African gold-mining corporate culture." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/53687.
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Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Corporate cu~ure is the foundation of businesses today and in every way underties the way business is done. The discovery and subsequent mining of gold during the last century have shaped the gold-mining corporate cu~re; it gave birth to racial segregation and laid the foundation of the system in which the industry finds itse~ today. The purpose of this study is to uncover the deeper patterns of corporate cu~ure that drive visible behaviour and attitudes. Once the root metaphor or main undertying assumptions of the gold-mining corporate cutture have been determined, a process of multilevel, frame-breaking, radical transformation can be initiated. A 'paradigm interplay' approach, which describes cu~re as an explicit variable and an implicit root metaphor, was adopted. Within this frameworK the study aims to explore concepts and meanings of corporate cu~re in a hermeneutic fashion by uncovering the human, expressive, symbolic texture of life in a gold mine. The frameworK provided a way of thinking about organisations, not to present 1001s' or 'methods' for managing or transforming culture, but to think culturally and holistically about the process of transformation. An in-depth investigation into Schein's 'three levels of cu~re' model was necessary in order to derive at the core transformational aspect of the gold-mining corporate culture. An analysis of Schein's model indicated that behavioural characteristics are shaped and determined by undertying values, beliefs and attitudes, which are shared among members of the organisation. If not espoused, these in turn rest upon sets of undertying assumptions that are the innermost core of corporate cu~re. One such a se~ the nature of human relationships, had been identified as the main undertying theme behind the vested interests as well as ingrained paradigms that exist on both sides of a racially divided workforce. The historical background of the industry and cultural perceptions created a shared assumption set that shaped these deep-rooted, embedded mindsets, affecting human relationships significantly. The study made it clear that any transformation attempt could be possible only when one goes deeper than the stated values and norms to understand the undertying assumptions and the true nature of human relationships that drive the visible behaviour and attttudes. The central dimension of this study, the nature of human relationships, referred to the opposing concepts of individualism versus communalism. These opposing paradigms are manifested in the two main management approaches or corporate cultures that exist in South Africa. Many suggested that the acknowledgement and utilisation of the Afrocentric value system, Ubuntu, alongside a Westem individualistic corporate culture are imperative to improve relationships in general and promote humanism. This study proposed that the humane spirit of Ubuntu, a spirit of trus~ caring and respect for human dignity, should be 'married' with the Westem approach to management instead of Ubuntu being adopted as a single framework that may be perceived negatively by the current business community. Thinking culturally', the purpose phrase of this study, succeeded therefore in abandoning the eitheror kind of thinking in favour of a more holistic 'both-and' way of doing. A desired culture of trust, honesty, openness, integrity and non-
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De, Klerk Ian Duncan. "The nature and origin of gold mineralization in the Tugela valley, Natal Structural and Metamorphic Province." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1991. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005591.
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The project area is situated within the Tugela Valley, located in the Northern Marginal Zone of the Natal Structural and Metamorphic Province, and this work outlines the different styles of gold mineralization found in the Tugela Valley. Two different styles have been recognized and both have economic significance:- 1) Epigenetic shear zone-hosted gold occurs in late-stage relatively undeformed thin quartz veins confined to shear zones, and is present in both the greenschist facies Natal Thrust Belt and the amphibolite facies Natal Nappe Complex. However the vast majority of these occurrences are concentrated within the thrust front (i.e. the Natal Thrust Belt). The gold grades (up to 7 g/t) and the hydrothermal alteration assemblages associated with the epigenetic deposits have been documented. 2) An as yet unrecognized occurrence of syngenetic gold mineralization is found associated with the sediment-hosted exhalative massive, to semi-massive, sulphides of the iThuma prospect, located within the amphibolite facies Natal Nappe Complex. Here gold (up to 3 g/t) is concentrated together with the main sulphide are, as well as some gold enrichment (230ppb) in the hydrothermally altered footwall feeder pipe. It is proposed that the epigenetic mineralization was formed as a consequence of the northward directed abduction of the major thrust slices of the Natal Nappe Complex. This increased the permeability of the rocks and provided channelways for the focussing of fluids. Deposition took place at the thrust front where metamorphic hydrothermal fluids interacted with meteoric water.
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Blamey, Nigel John Frederick. "The geology and evaluation of the "A"-reef at No.3 shaft, Western Holdings Mine, Welkom goldfield." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005569.
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The "A" -Reef occurs within the Aandenk Formation of the Central Rand Group, Witwatersrand Supergroup, in the Welkom Goldfield. It comprises the Witpan and Uitsig Reefs which are both oligomictic conglomerates, and are exploited for their gold content by Anglo American Corporation. The main Witpan channel complex is orientated in a NW-SE direction and occurs close to No.3 Shaft of Western Holdings Mine where it is currently being mined. The Witpan Reef varies in thickness from 7-220cm, with lateral facies changes controlling the thickness. Within the reef, gold is associated with degradation surfaces, carbonaceous material, increase in pebble sphericity, and channel edges. Two channel edges have yielded the best gold values on No.3 Shaft although the potential for further payable gold lies in the recognition of sieve conditions. The potential also exists for extensions of the "carbon"-bearing Uitsig channel currently being mined on President Steyn Mine. The palaeo-environment proposed for formation of the Witpan Reef is a braidplain that was partly reworked by a brief transgression. Ore evaluation using geostatistics was considered a valid technique as the dataset is sufficiently well structured. Semi-variograms in the channel and across-channel directions differ markedly. It was found that variograms of gold in cmg/t lacked sufficient structure for modelling, however, log semi-variogram modelling followed by simple log-kriging and back-transformation, proved to be the most successful method. Owing to the morphology and distribution of gold within the reef, a geologically based geostatistical valuation method is proposed. The potential for further exploration of "A" -Reef depends on a substantially higher gold price. In this event, exploration of Uitsig Reef to the southwest of the current mining area is recommended as well as a new exploration strategy for Witpan Reef.
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Dwyer, Gordon Bransby. "The geology of the Welkom Goldfield with special reference to the "A", "B" and Beatrix Reefs." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005575.
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The first Witwatersrand gold deposits in the Orange Free State were discovered under younger cover rocks in the 1930's with the aid of drilling and geophysics. The Welkom gold deposits are found in the sedimentary rock sequences of the Central Rand Group, which represent unconformity bounded genetic packages. The structural configuration of the goldfield is one of a north to south trending synform that is split near it's axis by the De Bron and Homestead faults. The "B" Reef is a highly variable, erratically mineralised reef that lies on an unconformity at the base of the Spes Bona Formation. The "A" Reef Zone consists of several placers 1 including the "Reworked BPM" 1 the Witpan, the Uitsig, the Hanging Wall Grits and the Upper "A" Reef. The Beatrix Reef lies at the base of the Eldorado Formation on an unconformity surface overlying the Virginia Formation in the southern part of the Welkom Goldfield. The origin of gold in the Witwatersrand basin can be classified into the modified placer theory, the syngenetic theory and the epigenetic theory. From the distribution of basin edge unconformities it can be deduced that the Welkom fan depository was tectonically active on the western, southern and eastern margins during sedimentation. Palaeocurrent studies indicate that sediment was transported predominantly from the south and west. It is thought that the "B", "A" and Beatrix Reefs were all deposited in a braided stream environment. A multidisciplinary approach to ore evaluation of Witwatersrand deposits is considered to be the best method, where sedimentology, geostatistics and structural geology are used.
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Gule, Nontobeko. "Factors contributing to unsuccessful rehabilitation: a case study investigating the rehabilitation practices in Opencast Coal Mines in the Mpumalanga Province, South Africa." Master's thesis, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/33709.
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The coal mining industry has played a significant role in the development of the South African economy. Coal supplies about 70% of South Africa's primary energy and is likely to remain the country's major source of energy despite the increasing trends towards renewable energy. Even though the industry has significantly contributed to the development of the country, it has also caused significant impacts on the environment with concomitant socio-economic impacts. Historically, once a coal measure was exhausted, mining companies would cease production and abandon the mines without proper rehabilitation of the environmental degradation caused by their mining activities. As a result of this, the South African Government introduced mining and rehabilitation legislation to mitigate the environmental and associated socio-economic impacts of mining. Rehabilitation guidelines for opencast coal mines were developed to provide detailed guidance for achieving successful and sustainable rehabilitation, to mitigate pollution post-mining. Despite the more stringent legislative framework and the development of international standard rehabilitation guidelines, successful mine rehabilitation remains a challenge. This research project aims to develop a better qualitative understanding of the status, challenges, gaps and opportunities pertaining to current rehabilitation practices in the case of opencast coal mines in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa, and in so doing, establish the contributing factors of unsuccessful rehabilitation. The dissertation draws on a comprehensive review of published literature and an analysis of semi-structured interviews with rehabilitation experts. The study found that the current rehabilitation practices in the Mpumalanga opencast mines are not to the standard required by the legislative framework nor prescribed by rehabilitation guidelines. As such, the current rehabilitation practices are not yielding successful and sustainable rehabilitation. According to the findings, the rehabilitation practices are hampered by physical and non-physical systemic challenges that thwart the achievement of successful rehabilitation. The study analysis shows that shortcomings in the application and enforcement of the legislative framework contributes to the legislation not achieving its intended objectives as well as the development of other physical and non-physical systemic challenges that hamper the achievement of successful rehabilitation.
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Andersen, Lindsay Marguerite. "A relative moment tensor inversion technique applied to seismicity induced by mining." Thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/20887.
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Three hybrid moment tensor inversion methods were developed for seismic sources
originating from a small source region. These techniques attempt to compensate for
various types of systematic error (or noise) that influence seismograms recorded in the
underground environment in order to achieve an accurate and robust measure of the
seismic moment tensor. The term 'hybrid' was used to distinguish between the
relative method proposed by Dahm (1995) and the methods developed in this thesis.
The hybrid methods were essentially weighting schemes designed to enhance the
accuracy of the computed moment tensors by decreasing the influence of any low
quality observations, to damp (or amplify) any signals that have been overestimated
(or underestimated) due to local site effects, and to correct for raypath focussing or
defocussing that results from inhomogeneities in the rockmass.
The weighting or correction applied to a particular observation was derived from the
residuals determined when observed data were compared with corresponding
theoretical data (for a particular geophone site, sensor orientation and wave phase) and
were calculated using a cluster of events rather than a single event. The first and
second weighting schemes were indirectly related to the mean and the median of the
residuals where the residuals were defined as the ratio of the theoretical to observed
data. In the third scheme, the residuals were defined as the difference between the
observed and theoretical data and the weights were based on the distance of a data
point (measured in standard deviations) from the mean residual. In each of the
weighting schemes, the correction was applied iteratively until the standard error of
the least-squares solution (normalised to the scalar seismic moment) was a minimum.
The schemes were non-linear because new weights were calculated for each iteration.
A number of stability tests using synthetic data were carried out to quantify the source
resolving capabilities of the hybrid methods under various extreme conditions. The
synthetic events were pure double-couple sources having identical fault-plane
orientations, and differing only in rake. This similarity in the mechanisms was chosen
because the waveforms of tightly grouped events recorded underground often show
high degrees of similarity. For each test, the results computed using the three hybrid
methods were compared with one another and with those computed using the single
event, absolute method and two relative methods (with and without a reference
mechanism). In the noise-free situation, it was found that the relative method without
reference mechanism showed the highest resolution of mechanisms, provided that the
coverage of the focal sphere was not too sparse (> 3 stations). The hybrid method
using a median correction was found to be the most robust of all the methods tested in
the most extreme case of poor coverage (2 stations) of the focal sphere.
When increasing levels of pseudo-random noise were applied to the data, the absolute
moment tensor inversion method, the hybrid method using a median correction, and
the hybrid method using a weighted mean correction all showed similar robustness
and stability in extreme configurations concerning network coverage of the focal
sphere and noise level. When increasing levels of systematic noise were added to the
data, the hybrid methods using a median correction and weighted mean correction
were found to exhibit similar robustness and stability in extreme configurations
concerning network coverage of the focal sphere and systematic noise. In all
situations investigated, these two hybrid methods outperformed the relative and
absolute methods.
The hybrid moment tensor inversion methods using a median and weighted mean
correction were applied to a cluster of 14 events, having remarkably similar
waveforms, recorded at Oryx Gold Mine. For comparative purposes, the absolute
method was also applied. The inputs to the inversion methods consisted of the spectral
plateaus of both P- and S-waves at frequencies below the comer frequency of the
time-integrated displacement traces. The polarities of dominant motion were used as
an additional constraint and were determined from cross-correlation of observed with
synthetic P- or S-waves. The solutions computed using the hybrid moment tensor
inversion using a median correction displayed a distinct improvement after the
iterative residual correction procedure was applied. The radiation patterns and faultplane
solutions showed a high degree of similarity, and are probably more accurate
reflections of reality than those computed using the absolute moment tensor inversion
methods. These observations are very encouraging and point towards the method's
potential for use as a standard processing tool for mine seismicity.
The implications of this work are a better understanding of the focal mechanisms of
seismic events induced by mining activities, ultimately leading to improved safety
underground.
Books on the topic "Gold mines and mining – South Africa – Mpumalanga"
1
Thomas, Baines. The gold regions of South-eastern Africa. London: Routledge, 2004., 2004.
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2
Vivienne, Ndatshe, ed. Going for gold: Men, mines, and migration. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994.
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3
Roy Martin Macnab. Gold their touchstone: Gold Fields of South Africa, 1887-1987 : a century story. Johannesburg: J. Ball, 1987.
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4
Johnstone, Frederick A. Class, race, and gold: A study of class relations and racial discrimination in South Africa. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1987.
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5
Migrant labour in South Africa's mining economy: The struggle for the gold mines' labour supply, 1890-1920. Kingston [Ont.]: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1985.
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6
Stemmet, Farouk. The golden contradiction: A Marxist theory of gold : with particular reference to South Africa. Aldershot, Hants, England: Avebury, 1996.
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7
Gold mining and politics: Johannesburg, 1900-1907 : the origins of the old South Africa. Lewiston, N.Y: Edwin Mellen Press, 2000.
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8
The Randlords: [the men who made South Africa]. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1985.
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9
Wheatcroft, Geoffrey. The Randlords: The men who made South Africa. London: Weidenfeld, 1993.
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10
Consolidated Gold Fields: A centenary portrait. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 1987.
Find full textBook chapters on the topic "Gold mines and mining – South Africa – Mpumalanga"
1
Ramontja, Thibedi, Detlef Eberle, Henk Coetzee, Rüdiger Schwarz, and Axel Juch. "Critical Challenges of Acid Mine Drainage in South Africa’s Witwatersrand Gold Mines and Mpumalanga Coal Fields and Possible Research Areas for Collaboration Between South African and German Researchers and Expert Teams." In The New Uranium Mining Boom, 389–99. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22122-4_46.
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2
McGarr, A., J. Bicknell, E. Sembera, and R. W. E. Green. "Analysis of Exceptionally Large Tremors in Two Gold Mining Districts of South Africa." In Seismicity in Mines, 295–307. Basel: Birkhäuser Basel, 1989. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-9270-4_3.
Full textConference papers on the topic "Gold mines and mining – South Africa – Mpumalanga"
1
Ogasawara, Hiroshi, Masao Nakatani, Raymond Durrheim, Makoto Naoi, Yasuo Yabe, Hirokazu Moriya, Gerhard Hofmann, et al. "Observational studies of the rock mass response to mining in highly stressed gold mines in South Africa." In Seventh International Conference on Deep and High Stress Mining. Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth, 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.36487/acg_rep/1410_06_ogasawara.
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Sileny, Jan, and Alexander Milev. "Source Mechanism—Dipole versus Single Force Application to Mining Induced Seismic Events in Deep Level Gold Mines in South Africa." In Sixth International Symposium on Rockburst and Seismicity in Mines. Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth, 2005. http://dx.doi.org/10.36487/acg_repo/574_23.
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3
Wymer, Denis G., and Johan C. Botha. "Managing the Environmental Impacts of Low Activity Wastes From the South African Gold Mining Industry." In ASME 2001 8th International Conference on Radioactive Waste Management and Environmental Remediation. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2001. http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/icem2001-1257.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract Uranium mineralization is associated with the gold deposits in South Africa that have been mined for more than a century. Investigations of the radiological impacts on the environment reveal that the various radioactive wastes — mostly of low activity — associated with gold and by-product uranium production do not warrant the application of anything more than basic control measures. Non-radiological pollution of the water environment is a growing problem, however, aggravated by the closure and flooding of mines. Control measures to address this problem should, as a spin-off, limit the release of radionuclides, thus helping to control future radiological pollution.