Academic literature on the topic 'Gold mines and mining – Zambia'

Abstract:Researchers and scholars have written on the history of mining in Zambia using a variety of sources and archives. But much of the history written from local archives has relied heavily on the National Archives of Zambia. Yet, important archival holdings for researchers of the history of Zambia’s mining industry also exist in the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Archive, the United National Independence Party Archive, and in the Mineworkers’ Union of Zambia Headquarters. These repositories house rich collections of data invaluable for understanding Zambia’s mining industry. Covering the period from the 1890s to the present, these archives make possible new questions and interpretations of Zambia’s mining industry.

The gold mine discharges tailings massively every day,which results in gold and useful metal draining,simultaneously brings the enormous harm to the environment The approach to comprehensive utilization of tailings of gold mines, including recycle of usable mineral and direct use of ore tailings,is analyzed in the paper, laying a foundation for continuous development of gold mines，comprehensive utilization of resource，and protection of environment.

For the purpose to achieve the growth of efficiency of gold mines it is necessary to wipe out the lag in technological expansion and development, provide high quality of mining and recycling of gold-blearily rock as well as realize organization adjustment, suggest reconstruction of business activity and change of existing system of management.

The history of mining and exploration in Panama is a case study of the evolution of mining in a tropical, island arc environment in the New World from prehistoric to modern times over a period of ~1900 years. Panama has a strong mineral endowment of gold (~984 t), and copper (~32 Mt) resulting in a rich mining heritage. The mining history can be divided into five periods. The first was the pre-Columbian period of gold mining from near the start of the Current Era at ~100 CE to 1501, following the introduced of gold metalwork fully fledged from Colombia. Mining of gold took place from placer and vein deposits in the Veraguas, Coclé, Northern Darien and Darien goldfields, together with copper for alloying. Panama was the first country on the mainland of the Americas to be mined by Europeans during the Spanish colonial period from 1501-1821. The pattern of gold rushes, conquest and settlement can be mapped from Spanish records, starting in Northern Darien then moving west to Panama in 1519 and Nata in 1522. From here, expeditions set out throughout Veraguas over the next century to the Veraguas (Concepción), Southern Veraguas, Coclé and Central Veraguas goldfields. Attention returned to Darien in ~1665 and led to the discovery of the Espíritu Santo de Cana gold mine, the most important gold mine to that date in the Americas. The third period was the Republican period following independence from Spain in 1821 to become part of the Gran Colombia alliance, and the formation of the Republic of Panama in 1903. This period up to ~1942 was characterized by mining of gold veins and placers, and manganese mining from 1871. Gold mining ceased during World War Two. The fourth period was the era of porphyry copper discoveries and systematic, regional geochemical exploration programs from 1956 to 1982, carried out mainly by the United Nations and the Panamanian government, as well as private enterprise. This resulted in the discovery of the giant porphyry copper deposits at Cerro Colorado (1957) and Petaquilla (Cobre Panama, 1968), as well as several other porphyry deposits, epithermal gold deposits and bauxite deposits. The exploration techniques for the discovery of copper were stream sediment and soil sampling, followed rapidly by drilling. The only mine developed in this period was marine black sands for iron ore (1971-1972). The fifth and current period is the exploration and development of modern gold and copper mines since 1985 by national and foreign companies, which started in response to the gold price rise. The main discovery methods for gold, which was not analyzed in the stream sediment surveys, were lithogeochemistry of alteration zones and reexamination of old mines. Gold mines were developed at Remance (1990-1998), Santa Rosa (1995-1999 with restart planned in 2020) and Molejon (2009-2014), and the Cobre Panama copper deposit started production in 2019. The level of exploration in the country is still immature and there is high potential for the discovery of new deposits.

AbstractThe present article shows that, according to archaeological and literary evidence, an expansion in mining occurred in the early Islamic world as a result of changes in mining technology at the end of Late Antiquity. The production of gold, silver, copper, iron, and other minerals is shown to have peaked in the eighth and ninth centuries and then to have declined during the tenth and eleventh centuries due to insecurity and/or exhaustion of the mines. Mining development was financed privately, and mines were usually private property.

Dendrochronological Studies of Wood from Mediaeval Mines of Polymetallic Ores in Lower Silesia (Sw Poland)The paper presents results of dendrochronological dating of wood encountered in abandoned mines in the eastern part of Lower Silesia. The research was carried out in gold mines in Złoty Stok, Głuchołazy, and Zlate Hory, a polymetallic-ore mine in Marcinków as well as old mines in the Sowie Mts: the Silberloch adit, an adit on the hillside of Mała Sowa, a graphite mine, and the silver and lead mine Augusta. Altogether 69 samples were taken from timbers of coniferous tree species:Pinus sylvestris, Abies alba, Picea abiesandLarix decidua.The oldest wood, from the turn of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was encountered in the gold mines in Zlate Hory and Głuchołazy. In the gold mine in Złoty Stok, graphite mine in Sowie Mts and in Marcinków there was identified wood from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Generally, timbers from the nineteenth century were prevailing, and in three cases there was even encountered relatively young twentieth-century wood in the gold mine in Złoty Stok and in the Silberloch adit. The analyses carried out were only preliminary. Broader, interdisciplinary investigations, including dendrochronology, archaeology, geology, mining, and palaeobotany, would substantially contribute for learning the history of the mining in the whole region.

A common challenge faced in underground hardrock mines worldwide is post mining-induced seismicity, as the events have been quite disastrous, causing risk to the structures and lives. In the recent years, many of the worked out mining areas are slowly getting populated and in due course of time shall be posing environmental threat to the people residing above and to the surface structures like sudden void formations or sudden ground collapse becoming visible on the surface. Worked out or closed mines have most of the time shown existence of post mining-induced seismicity signatures. Some of the closed mines showing post mining induced seismicity in Korea, South Africa, Sweden and India are being discussed. Post mining induced seismicity observed in Kolar Gold Fields worked out mine still being felt since closure of deeper levels is discussed. As mining depth increases especially in hard rock mines, magnitude of stress increases, hence, the occurrence and severity of postmining induced seismicity also increases. The problem becomes more serious if proper fund allocation is not done to investigate these areas, may be due to the absence of economic interest once the mine site has been abandoned and in many cases, direct investigations inside the mines may not be possible due to stability problems or due to the ingress of water into the void spaces of the mining area. Several approaches and techniques adopted by researcher’s world over are being discussed in this paper, with a view to gaining insight into the techniques of evaluation of seismic hazard. Seismic vulnerability assessment should integrate the effects of all the seismic events occurring at different locations of mining area during mining and post mining, along with their uncertainties also being considered. Based on the recorded data and some of the derived parameters from previous years, an attempt should be made to evaluate the existing risk prone areas. The past records of induced seismicity due to mining should be used as a precursor for identification of impending future events and their expected probable locations of occurrence. The methods discussed here for assessment of seismic hazard are based on direct waveform and seismic source parameters, parameters from indirect waveform methods, frequency-magnitude relationship based, and frequency content analysis based. From the assessment it is found that the choice of method that can be used depends on the period of monitoring (short-term monitoring, intermediate-term or long-term monitoring) and the objective of the study required to be achieved, this varies on site-to-site basis. The main focus is to show the importance and need to install a micro seismic monitoring system for long term assessment of seismic risk especially in abandoned/worked out mines showing post mining-induced seismicity.

The research determines the dynamics of gold mining and identifies the specifics of the development of the gold industry in Salair in the late XIX – early XX centuries. The Salair ridge was then under the jurisdiction of the Cabinet of His Imperial Majesty. At the end of the XIX century, the Cabinet spent a lot of money on geological survey of the ridge and invested in the development of the local gold mines. The extraction of gold during this period fluctuated within 6–8 poods (1 pood = 16 kg). At the beginning of the XX century, the Cabinet leased the Salair mines to private entrepreneurs and joint-stock companies. Such agreements were signed by Prince A. von Thurn und Taxis and Dr. Josef Jeanne (Austria), Arthur Stanley and mining engineer Farrukh Bek-Vezirov (Great Britain), State Councilor Berezin (Russia), and The Russian Gold Mining Company. Private companies operated more successfully than the Cabinet. In the XX century the extraction of gold in Salair increased. However, after the companies had developed the ready retrievable gold deposits, they ceased operating. As the calculations have shown, more than 3.6 tons of gold were mined on the Salair Ridge in 1892 – 1915. The main feature of the Salair gold mining was that gold was extracted both by the Cabinet and private companies, which means that state and private capital acted in parallel.

Mandor Village has developed as a tradisional gold mining area since years ago. It involved activities that have led to extreme land condition and the release of mining residues, i.e., mercury, to the soils. The study examined the potential of soil bacteria as mercury bioremediation agent based on their population and activity in former mines with different ages. The bacterial population was measured by isolating soil bacteria on solid media using the pour plate method, and the colonies were enumerated during the incubation. The Nutrient Agar (NA) medium was used to obtain the total population, whereas the Salt Base Solution (SBS) was to determine the presence of mercury-tolerant bacteria. The addition of HgCl2 affected the number of the colonies. The colony only grew until the concentration of HgCl2 reached 5 mg/l, and the total colony was larger in older mines. The observation of bacterial activity showed that biotransformation performance was lower when the concentration of mercury was the same as its natural presence in soils (0.1-0.5 mg/l) compared with higher mercury level (1 mg/l). The research showed that lower mercury concentrations in nature reduced the natural ability of bacteria to transform pollutants. This study provides information that can assist the development of a technological approach to control mercury pollution in former traditional gold mines in an environmentally friendly manner using indigenous soil bacteria.