Rudniki afrika

8/3/2019 Rudniki afrika

1/14

010/11YEARBOOK

2010/11

SOUTH AFRICA

MINERAL RESOURCES

YEARBOOK

2010/11

SOUTH AFRICA


2/14

Mineral resources SOUTH AFRICA YEARBOOK 2010/11 366

16MINERAL RESOURCESSouth Africas mining industry has been and

remains the bedrock of Africas economicpowerhouse. The mining sector, togetherwith its related industries, continues to becritical to the countrys socio-economicdevelopment.

With Citibank estimating in 2010 thatSouth Africa had R2,5 trillion worth ofmineral reserves, it is clear that the miningindustry is crucial in the war against povertyand underdevelopment in South Africa.

The Mineral Policy and Promotion Branchof the Department of Mineral Resources is

responsible for formulating and promotingmineral-related policies that will encour-age investment in the mining and mineralsindustry, making South Africa attractive toinvestors.

The Mine Health and Safety Inspector-ate (MHSI) is responsible for implementingmine-health and -safety legislation.

The Mineral Regulation Branch regulatesthe mining and minerals industry to achievetransformation and contribute to sustainabledevelopment.

Policy and initiativesMining and minerals policy is based on theprinciples of the Freedom Charter, accord-ing to which the mineral wealth beneath thesoil will be transferred to the ownership ofthe people as a whole.

The Mineral and Petroleum ResourcesDevelopment Act (MPRDA), 2002 (Act 28 of2002), has opened doors for the substantialand meaningful participation of historicallydisadvantaged South Africans (HDSAs) inthe exploration and exploitation of mineralresources. The MPRDA, 2002 enshrinesequal access to mineral resources, irrespect-ive of race, gender or creed. Section 100 ofthe MPRDA, 2002 provides for the develop-ment of the Broad-Based Socio-EconomicEmpowerment Charter, which is popularlyknown as the Mining Charter. The MiningCharter, as promulgated in 2004, made pro-vision to review the progress against agreedtargets ve years after its implementation.

The introduction of the Mining Charter inSouth Africa was aimed at transforming themining industry to redress historical imbal-

ances engendered by apartheid so that theindustry is consistent with the changes inSouth Africas overall transformation of itssocial, political and economic landscape.

The Department of Mineral Resourcesconcluded an assessment of the progressof the industrys transformation against the

Mining Charter objectives as adopted in

2002.The racial ownership pattern of the

countrys mining assets has remainedlargely unchanged, with only 8,9% blackownership attained by 2009 against thetarget of 15%. The reviewed Mining Charter,launched in September 2010, seeks to cor-rect this, putting emphasis on 26% of SouthAfricas mining assets being black economicempowerment (BEE)-compliant by 2014.

It also provides for the complete elimina-tion of hostels on South Africas mines by

2014, and introduces a sustainable element,premised on the understanding that thesocial licence to operate includes the en-vironment, health and safety performance.

Under the new charter, companies foundnot complying could face penalties, whichcould include the revoking of a mining com-panys licence.

The Mining Industry Growth, Develop-ment and Employment Task Team (Migdett),a multistakeholder task team chaired by theDepartment of Mineral Resources, and com-prising government and organised labour,

was established in December 2008 to:help the industry manage the negativeeffects of the global economic crisis andto save jobsposition the industry for growth and trans-formation in the medium to long term.

The rst mandate of Migdett was success-fully concluded in September 2009, with

job losses contained to less than 40 000,against original projections in excess of100 000 job losses in the rst year of theglobal economic crisis.

During the course of its second mandate,which started during the latter part of 2009,Migdett identied two major attributes thatwill position South Africas mining industryalong a sustainable growth path, promotingcompetitiveness and transformation.

In 2010, the unprecedented successful

rescue operation of the 33 miners trapped700 m underground in a San Jose mine in

Chile, prompted intense international attention.After 69 days underground, including two weeks during

which they were feared dead, the men were rescued

on 14 October. The Cementation Group, through itsglobal footprint and capability, was able to participate in

the rescue operation and y the ag high for Murray &

Roberts and South Africa.

One of Murray & Roberts large diameter raise drill-

ing machines, the Strata 950, was used by Terracem inthe rescue operation.

i


3/14

SOUTH AFRICA YEARBOOK 2010/11 Mineral resources367

To this extent, Migdett established twoworking groups, chaired by the Chamber ofMines and South African Mining Develop-

ment Association, respectively. This pro-cess recognised that the department hadpreviously dealt with competitiveness andtransformation of the mining industry asmutually exclusive and Migdett was spe-cically tasked to emphasise the symbioticrelationship and mutually reinforcing natureof these attributes.

The second phase of the Migdett processculminated in the signing of the declarationon the Strategy for Sustainable Growth andMeaningful Transformation of South AfricasMining Industry on 30 June 2010.

All stakeholders represented in Migdettsigned the declaration document. The rel-evant transformation aspects of the declara-tion document were effectively migrated toconstitute the bulk of the amendments of theMining Charter.

In essence, the revised Mining Charteris located within the broader context ofthe Strategy for Sustainable Growth andMeaningful Transformation of South AfricasMining Industry.

The Codes of Good Practice and theHousing and Living Conditions Standardsfor the Mineral Industry were gazetted inApril 2009.

The promulgation of the MPRDA, 2002led to an increase in the number of newentrants in the mining space, seen by theincrease in BEE companies mining coal,which were then unable to export theirgoods due to insufcient rail and port facil-ities. The Department of Mineral Resourcesestablished the Coal Industry Task Team tofacilitate access to new coal-export facilitiesfor junior coal-mining companies, and by

August 2010 stakeholders had collectivelysecured four million tons (Mt) export capa-city dedicated to these companies.

The enabling environment has led to a fur-ther increase in the number of new entrants,requiring a signicantly larger proportion ofaccess to these facilities. The departmentcontinues to engage all stakeholders toseek supplementary solutions.

The Geoscience Amendment Bill, whichaims to align the Geoscience Act, 1993(Act 100 of 1993), with the MPRDA, 2002and expand the functions of the Council forGeoscience (CGS) has been gazetted andwill be reintroduced to Parliament.

The Bill seeks to: mandate the CGS to be the custodians

and curators of geotechnical informa-

tion, to be a national mandatory advisoryauthority in respect of geohazards relatedto infrastructure development, to under-

take exploration and prospecting researchin the mineral and petroleum sectors andto add to the functions of the council

put mechanisms in place to addressproblems associated with infrastructuredevelopment on dolomitic land

empower the CGS to be the custodianof all geotechnical data to compile acomplete geotechnical risk prole of thecountry

enable the CGS to become the custodianof technical information relating to explo-ration and mining.

The Department of Mineral Resources, inconjunction with other key departments aswell as relevant state-owned enterprises,launched the Beneciation Strategy inMarch 2009, after approval was granted byCabinet for the strategy to be circulated forbroader consultation.

Once comments are incorporated into thestrategy, it will be sent to Cabinet for approvalas a policy position for the country.

The Beneciation Strategy provides fora framework within which South Africa isable to implement orderly development ofthe countrys mineral value chains to lever-age benet from inherent comparative andcompetitive advantage, transformation anddiversication of the economy as well asincremental gross domestic product (GDP)growth.

The strategy is intended to supportnational programmes such as the NationalIndustrial Policy Framework.

Mine environmentalmanagementMine environmental management forms anintegral part of the management of mineralresources in South Africa. For the Depart-ment of Mineral Resources to effectivelymanage, it has to undertake research;

Early in 2010, the Department of MineralResources embarked on a major re-engineering

initiative to streamline its licensing administra-tive processes.

This exercise sought to improve the turnaround time inissuing licences, achieve more transparency, and root

out any potential for maladministration and corruptionin the system.The department has committed to reducing the

turnaround time for mining rights applications from 12 tosix months, while prospecting-right applications will be

reduced from six to three months.

i


4/14


develop mine environmental policies (legis-lation and strategies); and provide strategicguidance on mine environmental manage-

ment, mine rehabilitation, water ingress,mine environmental legacies and sustain-able development.

The heritage of mining, which extendsfor over a century, has left a scourge ofderelict and ownerless mines, which causeserious environmental and health hazards,particularly for communities living aroundthese areas. The department has prioritisedthe rehabilitation of these mines.

A Draft Strategy on Regional Mine Clo-sure in the Witwatersrand and Klerksdorp-Orkney-Stilfontein-Hartebeesfontein gold-

mining areas has been developed to addresscumulative mining-related impact (minewater decant, ingress, pollution, etc.) and toachieve sustainable closure of mines in theareas of concern. The long-term approachis to replicate the concept of regional mine-closure strategies to other areas of cumula-tive and integrated environmental impacts,such as the coal elds in KwaZulu-Natal andMpumalanga as well as other mining areasof concern.

The Minister of Mineral Resources,Ms Susan Shabangu, established the Re-habilitation Oversight Committee within thedepartment to drive the implementation of arehabilitation programme for all mines whichwere licensed prior to the Minerals Act, 1991(Act 50 of 1991), and the MPRDA, 2002.

The rehabilitation strategy for these mineswas signed off and the implementation planand costs for the rehabilitation programmewere nalised. An amount of R52 million hasbeen set aside for the implementation of thisprogramme in 2010/11.

Sustainable developmentThe World Summit on Sustainable Develop-ment (WSSD) was hosted in Johannesburgin 2002 to reafrm commitment to sustain-able development and, as a follow-up, thethen Department of Minerals and Energyinitiated a process in 2005 by developing astrategy to address the WSSD outcomes forminerals and mining.

South Africas Sustainable DevelopmentFramework, incorporating all three spheresof sustainable development, namely eco-nomic, environmental and social, wasnalised and the sustainable developmentthematic report submitted to the UnitedNations Commission on Sustainable Devel-opment (UNCSD) in preparation for the 18thsession of the commission.

This report outlines progress made by themining industry against the agreed develop-mental targets of the 2002 Johannesburg

Summit of the UNCSD.African MiningPartnership (AMP)The AMP was launched in 2004 to furtherthe New Partnership for Africas Develop-ment (Nepad) objectives through mining andmineral initiatives in the quest for economicdevelopment on the continent.

Countries were assigned projects tospearhead and ensure that they contributedtowards growing Africas economy throughits mineral wealth. African ministers re-

sponsible for mining lobbied that the AMPbe located under the African Union (AU),meaning that the AMP that took place inFebruary 2010 in Cape Town, South Africa,was the last one taking place under the aus-pices of Nepad.

Locating the AMP within the AU willimprove its standing and should attractmore countries to participate. Ghana is thechair of the AMP and South Africa as thesecretariat and organiser of the event.

This merger will also give the AMP accessto the AUs nancial resources and help itachieve its vision of increasing the benet ofAfricas mineral wealth for its own people.

African Diamond ProducersAssociation (ADPA)The Department of Mineral Resourcesreceived Cabinet approval to participate inthe ADPA in 2009.

The ADPA has three organs, namely: theCouncil of Ministers, Executive Secretariatand the Meeting of Experts. The Council ofMinisters is constituted by 18 African coun-

tries, 11 of whom are full members, of whichSouth Africa is one, while the remainderenjoy observer status.

The Executive Secretariat is the admin-istrative organ and comprises a secretariatand two deputies. The Meeting of Expertsconsists of ofcials from the member coun-tries and serves as the Working Group.

South Africa was nominated to take overthe chairship of the ADPA from Angoladuring the second ordinary meeting of theCouncil of Ministers in 2010.

For South Africa, membership of thisassociation presents an opportunity toposition itself strategically among diamond-producing countries in Africa. It could addsignicant impetus to the diamond bene-ciation initiatives of South Africa. This will


5/14


also boost the countrys aim of becoming thebeneciation hub and gateway of Africa.

Mining industryThe discovery of world-class diamond andgold deposits in the latter half of the 19thcentury laid the foundation for the emer-gence of South Africa from an essentiallyagricultural to a modern industrial economy.The mining industry subsequently covered awide-ranging spectrum of minerals, in whichSouth Africa has an exceptional geological/mineral endowment.

Mining played a vital role as a foundationindustry, which stimulated the developmentof key services, manufacturing and side-

stream industries. Mineral production hasbeen a major contributor to foreign exchangeearnings and employment in South Africa. Inthe 1980s, the gold sector accounted dom-inantly for all mineral-related income.

However, gold has fallen from its eminentposition as the main contributor to mineralsales, as a result of which employment inthe mining industry has contracted sig-nicantly since 1986. Employment in themining sector decreased cumulatively by17,1% from 853 116 in 1997 to 438 534 in2003. Employment gures started to growsince the promulgation of the MPRDA, 2002in 2004, peaking at 527 000 in 2008 beforethe implosion of the global nancial andeconomic crisis.

The platinum-group metals (PGM) sectorhas become the largest employer and con-tributor to revenue earnings, contributing36% of total mining employment, followedby the gold and coal sectors respectively.Although the percentage of mining contribu-tion to the national GDP shows a markeddeclining trend from 1980 (above 22%) to

9,5% in 2008, principally resultant fromthe introduction and faster growth of othersectors contributory to the GDP, the miningsector has grown signicantly in real termsin the same period.

In the period 1986 to 2007, the percent-age (relative) decline of mining contributionto the national GDP should be understood inthe context of the apparent economic diver-sication and faster growth pace of othersectors, such as manufacturing, nancialand construction, to which the mining indus-try also contributes signicantly.

Despite a mining heritage that extendsbeyond a century, the South African miningreal estate remains attractive for develop-ment, with signicant resources of gold,uranium, chrome, manganese, PGMs, tita-nium-minerals, vanadium, coal, limestone,vermiculite and zirconium.

Despite considerable diversication of thecountrys economy in the recent past, themining sector remains a key variable in the

economic growth equation. For instance, in2009, the industry contributed 9,5% to grossvalue added, 9% to total xed capital forma-tion, more than 30% to the countrys totalexport revenue, and employed 2,9% of thecountrys economically active population,at just below half a million direct jobs and afurther half a million indirect jobs.

The sector contributes 18% to the coun-trys corporate tax receipts. The listed min-ing companies represent over 30% of themarket capitalisation of the JohannesburgStock Exchange. While mining activities

consume 15% of national electricity, themining industry directly contributes morethan 95% towards the countrys electricitygeneration.

South Africa is host to signicant knownreserves and resources of mineral commod-ities, with almost 60 minerals being activelymined and prospects for exploitation of anadditional two new minerals in the shortto medium term. A large number of theseknown reserves were discovered usingconventional exploration methodologies.For this reason, there still lies considerableresidual potential for discovery of world-class deposits using modern explorationtechnology. This is further supported byexisting mining infrastructure, which enablesinvestors to leverage maximum value fromtheir investment in South Africa, while atthe same time contributing to socio-politicalimprovement.

MineworkersAccording to the Chamber of Mines,the South African mining sector in 2008

employed 518 585 employees comparedwith 495 474 in 2007, representing animprovement of 4,7%. Mining accountedfor 6,1% of total non-agricultural formal

In July 2010, the Minister of Mineral Resources,

Ms Susan Shabangu, launched the Matla Dia-mond Polishing Plant in the Eastern Cape. The

plant will enable South Africa to process moreof its own diamonds.

The R102-million project is a partnership between Matla

Beneciation Company, the East London Industrial

Development Zone, the Industrial Development Corpo-

ration and Gold Eastern Holdings of China.The automated plant is equipped with technology

worth R35 million from China, and is expected to be

eight times more efcient than a similar-sized manual

operation.

It will produce a maximum of 20 000 carats a month,translating into R100 million in monthly revenue.

i


6/14


employment in the economy and 7,8% oftotal private-sector non-agricultural employ-ment.

If the indirect and induced effects ofmining are included, then another 500 000jobs are estimated to exist in addition to thedirect mining jobs.

In 2008, about R60,7 billion was paid inwages and benets to mine employees.This accounted for about 6% of the totalcompensation paid to all formally employedpeople in South Africa.

Mine health and safetyThe MHSI of the Department of MineralResources, established in terms of the

Mine Health and Safety Act (MHSA), 1996(Act 29 of 1996), is responsible for protect-ing the health and safety of mineworkers orpeople affected by mining activities.

The activities of the MHSI focus on achiev-ing a safer and healthier mining industry forall. The MHSI works closely with industryand worker unions to reduce the incidenceof mine accidents, with stakeholders com-mitting themselves to continuously redu-cing fatalities by at least 20% a year. Theinspectorate is also pursuing a strategy toeliminate silicosis and noise-induced hear-ing loss or occupational deafness by 2013.

The levels of death, ill health and injuriesat mines remain a serious concern for theDepartment of Mineral Resources. Dur-ing 2009, the mining industry managed torecord a 3% improvement in fatalities dueto mine accidents when compared with theprevious year, 2008, when 171 miners losttheir lives, followed by 165 miners in 2009.

To deal with the pressing occupationalhealth and safety challenges facingthe industry, the Department of Mineral

Resources embarked on a number of inter-ventions, which include: implementing the amendments to the

MHSA, 1996 to improve enforcement andprosecutions the work that is being done to improve

seismic network coverage and systemsintegration to assess actions taken bymines in dealing with high-risk areas,which are prone to seismic events

improving the health capacity of theinspectorate by establishing a new chiefdirectorate for occupational health andappointing additional health inspectors inthe regional ofces.

An amount of R145 million has been allo-

cated toward the health and safety pro-grammes.

In 2010, the department experiencedproblems between mines and surroundingcommunities due to blasting operations thatcaused damage to houses, as well as dustand noise.

In addressing these challenges, thedepartment is developing a comprehensivestrategy with an emphasis on blasting,vibration, noise and dust control.

The legislation of compensation mattersin the mining industry needs an urgent over-haul to address issues relating to access toservices and information, turnaround timeson payments and compensation amounts.

The Mine Health and Safety Councilbudgeted R29,5 million to support theachievement of zero harm to mineworkersthrough a comprehensive research pro-gramme. The council continues to drive theimplementation of outcomes of the TripartiteLeadership Summit and the recommenda-tions of the Presidential Audit.

The department introduced the Mine

Health and Safety Amendment Act, 2008(Act 74 of 2008), which aims to enhance theStates ability to address the mine-healthand -safety challenges of a high injury rate,ill health and deaths.

The amendment introduces stricter sanc-tions for non-compliance with health andsafety standards by individuals and cor-porate bodies, as well as prosecution.

The Act establishes the MHSI as a juristicperson. This amendment is signicant as itprovides a platform upon which the criticalquestion of capacity to effectively enforcehealth and safety regulatory requirementscan be addressed.

The department continues to work withsecurity forces to develop a strategy tocombat illegal mining, which is one of the

In August 2010, Gold Fields announced three

Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) dealsthat would see an employee-share scheme

and a broad-based BEE consortium buying dis-counted shares in the South African gold mine, thereby

enabling it to meet its 2014 empowerment targets.

The company announced the empowermentdeals after disclosing that the Department of Mineral

Resources had executed the new order mining rights forits South Deep Gold Mine.

The cumulative effect of the execution, togetherwith the previous conversions for Driefontein, Kloof and

Beatrix granted in 2006, is that all of Gold Fields South

African operations had been granted their new ordermining rights.

The South Deep licence was also extended by thedepartment to include a contiguous property, called

Uncle Harrys, which contains a mineral resource of

about 14,5 million ounces of gold.

i


7/14


biggest threats to mineworkers health andsafety.

South Africa is committed to combating

HIV and AIDS in the mining industry.Mining Qualifcations Authority(MQA)The MQA was established as a sectoreducation and training authority and aimsto facilitate the development of appropriateknowledge and skills in the mining, mineralsand jewellery sectors to: enable the development and transforma-

tion of the sector contribute to the health, safety and com-

petitiveness of the sector

improve access to quality education andtraining for all

redress past inequalities in education andtraining.

The MQA is responsible for: developing and monitoring the implemen-

tation of a sector skills plan registering skills-development facilitators

at workplaces within the sector approving work-skills plans and annual

training reports of companies in the sec-tor

developing unit standards and qualica-tions

maintaining the quality of standards,qualications and learning provision inthe sector

establishing, registering, administeringand promoting learnerships

administering existing apprenticeshipsystems

administering and disbursing skills-devel-opment levies.

The MQA allocated almost R280 million tosupport the mining and minerals industry

with skills development. Partnerships withfurther education and training colleges inareas where there is signicant growth inmining is needed.

Work experience is important for gradu-ates in Mining Engineering, Geology andMetallurgy. The MQA is supporting thisinitiative through the allocation of bursariesto about 500 learners who are studyingmining-related qualications at differentuniversities.

Chamber of MinesThe Chamber of Mines of South Africa isa prominent industry employers organisa-tion, which exists to serve its members andpromote their interests in the South Africanmining industry. It does this through a varietyof activities and programmes undertaken

in areas where it is deemed desirable formembers to consult with one another onmatters of common concern or to cooperate

in specic industry-level policy responsesand joint initiatives.With this scope dening its role, the

chamber exists as an important strategicpartner to its member mines. In recentyears, the chambers role and functionshave undergone substantial change in viewof developments unfolding in the externalenvironment. This redirection of the organ-isation has been undertaken with a view to: refocuse the chamber to position it as

the principal advocate to government ofmajor policy positions endorsed by min-

ing employers end the chambers direct involvement

in and nancial subsidisation of variousindustry services

expand the membership base of theorganisation.

The chamber facilitates interaction amongmine employers to examine policy issuesand other matters of mutual concern todene desirable industry-level stances.Consultation and cooperation within thechamber system occur on a voluntary basisand do not encroach on the managerialpowers or prerogatives of individual mem-ber mines and mining groups.

A range of professional resources ismaintained to support the chambers policyreview and advocacy functions and to equipit to render advice to its members, includ-ing mining health and safety, education andtraining, communication, environmentalmanagement, economics and industrialrelations.

Small-scale mining in South

AfricaThe Department of Mineral Resourcesdeems the role of small-scale mining incommunity upliftment, job creation andpoverty alleviation as critical. The previousmodel of implementation of the small-scalemining programme was piloted with varyinglevels of success being attained.

The department is developing a newapproach to maximise the impact of small-scale mining, with particular focus onpoverty nodal points with mining potential,intended to contribute meaningfully towardsthe livelihood of these communities. Thesmall-scale mining sector is faced withmany challenges such as lack of accessto nance and markets, shortage of skillsand inadequate or non-compliance withregulatory requirements, all of which the


8/14


Department of Mineral Resources is work-ing towards addressing.

The small-scale mining sector has historic-

ally comprised mainly alluvial diamond andin-land salt mining, but lately the bulk of thedemand for small-scale mining ventures hasbeen associated with industrial commod-ities, such as slate, sand, clay, sandstone,dolerite and granites for the production ofinfrastructural development products suchas tiles, clay and cement bricks, aggregatesand dimension stone for cladding.

The Directorate: Small-Scale Mining in theDepartment of Mineral Resources developsand addresses the challenges faced by thesmall-scale mining sector.

It is essential that small-scale miners inSouth Africa become integrated into thegreater South African mining communityand the mainstream economy. Governmenthas taken active measures to promote thedevelopment of this sector. The small-scalemining sector includes: artisanal or subsistence mining opera-

tions (new entrants) suboptimal formal mining operations entrepreneurs with upfront capital.The department is working to legalise small-scale mining operations, and nd ways tohelp make them economically viable in away that is relevant and affordable to small-scale miners.

The directorate assists aspiring small-scale miners in: establishing legal entities guiding towards the identication of min-

eral deposits doing environmental impact assessment,

feasibility and market studies legal and contractual arrangements and

mineral rights

developing mining equipment.The Small-Scale Mining Board has beenset up as a point of delivery for the servicesrequired by the small-scale mining sector. Itcoordinates a substantial amount of expertcapacity and experience and specialisesin planning and developing a viable miningproject through pre-feasibility stages.

Mineral wealthSouth Africas mineral wealth is typicallyfound in the following well-known geologicalformations and settings: the Witwatersrand Basin yields some 93%

of South Africas gold output and containsconsiderable resources of uranium, silver,pyrite and osmiridium

the Bushveld Complex is known for PGMs(with associated copper, nickel and cobalt

mineralisation), chromium and vanadium-bearing titanium-iron ore formations aswell as large deposits of industrial miner-

als, including uorspar and andalusite the Transvaal Supergroup contains enorm-ous resources of manganese and ironore

the Karoo Basin extends through Mpu-malanga, KwaZulu-Natal, the Free Stateas well as Limpopo, hosting considerablebituminous coal and anthracite resources

the Phalaborwa Igneous Complex hostsextensive deposits of copper, phosphate,titanium, vermiculite, feldspar and zirco-nium ores

kimberlite pipes host diamonds that also

occur in alluvial, uvial and marine set-tings

heavy mineral sands contain ilmenite,rutile and zircon

signicant deposits of lead-zinc ores asso-ciated with copper and silver are found inthe Northern Cape near Aggeneys.

The bulk of the known mineral resources andreserves were discovered using conven-tional exploration methods, but the countrystill has signicant potential for additionaldiscoveries of world-class deposits, usingmodern exploration technologies.

South Africa has the worlds largestresources of PGMs (87,7% of world total),manganese (80%), chromium (72,4%),gold (29,7%) and alumino-silicates. SouthAfrica also accounts for over 40% of theglobal production of the following mineralcommodities: ferrochromium, PGMs andvanadium.

It is also the worlds leading producer ofchrome ore, vermiculite and alumino-sili-cates, and is among the top three producersof gold, manganese ore, titanium minerals

and uorspar.The South African mining industry contrib-utes 51,7% of world ferrochromium exportsand 54% of alumino-silicates, and is one ofthe worlds largest exporters of PGMs, goldand vanadium, and a signicant exporterof manganese ore. Other important exportcommodities include ferro-manganese anduorspar.

Although South Africa is probably thelargest exporter of vanadium, gold andPGMs, it is not possible to rank it because ofthe unavailability of export data from otherproducing countries.

The Directorate: Mineral Economics of theDepartment of Mineral Resources monitorsand analyses the global supply and demandof minerals that affect the South Africaneconomy.


9/14


GoldSouth Africas gold production decreasedby 15,8% from 252,6 t in 2007 to 212,7 t

in 2008, resulting in the country droppingin production ranking from second-largestproducer to fourth-largest, mainly as a resultof mining of lower-grade ore, inuenced byhigher rand gold prices, temporary closureof shafts to maintain infrastructure, as wellas new safety procedures, which involvedthe temporary closure of a shaft where afatal incident had occurred to facilitate asafety audit.

About 4,1% of South Africas gold produc-tion was beneciated to coins and jewellerylocally during 2008, generating revenue of

R2 billion.

SilverSouth Africa does not have a primary silvermine and the metal is produced only as aby-product of other minerals. Silver was pro-duced as a by-product from 13 gold opera-tions, one uranium mine, two copper minesand two platinum mines in 2008. Despite thevagaries of the global economy, productionincreased by 8,1% to 2,7 million ouncesof silver in 2008, mainly due to a modestincrease from one to two silver-producingplatinum mines.

CoalSouth Africas saleable coal productionincreased by 1,8% to reach 252,2 Mt in 2008

compared with 2007. Local sales increasedby 7,8% to 197,1 Mt while export salesdeclined by 14,5% to 57,9 Mt. The value of

local sales rose by 57,4% to R30,1 billionwhile revenue from export sales increasedby 73,7% to R42,4 billion.

Platinum-group metalsSouth African PGM production decreasedby 9,3% to 275,8 t in 2008 from 304 t in2007. The production of platinum and pal-ladium fell by 9,2% to 146,1 t and by 9,7%to 75,5 t respectively, while production ofrhodium dropped by 8,1% to 19,3 t. PGMexport sales revenue increased by 23,1%to R66 billion, due to a higher average rand

basket price for 2007.

Non-ferrous mineralsThe production of primary non-ferrousmetals and minerals, with the exclusion oftitanium and zircon, increased by 3,2% to238,8 kt in 2008, compared with 2007, whilesales decreased by 22% to R 12,5 billion.

Domestic sales revenue decreased by18% to R5,9 billion and exports revenuedecreased by 25,3% to R6,5 billion in 2008.The total sales of non-ferrous metals andminerals (primary and processed), exclud-ing titanium slag and aluminium, decreasedby 23,8% to R14,1 billion in 2008.

Ferrous mineralsSouth Africa is an important source of fer-

Total value of mineral sales

Source: Statistics South Africa, October 2010

28000

26000

24000

22000

20000

18000

16000

14000

12000

10000

8000

Jan2

005

Apr2

005

Jul2

005

Oct2

005

Jan2

006

Apr2

006

Jul2

006

Oct2

006

Jan2

007

Apr2

007

Jul2

007

Oct2

007

Jan2

008

Apr2

008

Jul2

008

Oct2

008

Jan2

009

Apr2

009

Jul2

009

Oct2

009

Jan2

010

Apr2

010

Jul2

010

Oct2

010

Year

R

billion

Seasonally adjusted fgures Trend cycle


10/14


rous minerals, being the largest producer ofchromium and vanadium ores and a leadingsupplier of their alloys. It is also a signicant

producer of iron and manganese ores anda signicant supplier of manganese alloys,ferrosilicon and silicon metal.

Sales of primary ferrous minerals con-tributed R44,9 billion (11,6%) to total SouthAfrican mineral sales, including primary plusprocessed minerals. Sales of processedand primary ferrous minerals contributedR82,2 billion (28,5%) to total mineral exportsin 2008 and the combined sales revenue ofprimary and processed ferrous minerals in2008 amounted to R97,1 billion ($11,7 bil-lion), representing 25,1% of the total value

of all primary and processed minerals sold.The signicantly higher contributions ofboth export and total ferrous mineral salesrevenue in 2008 compared with 2007 is tes-timony to the growing importance of ferrousmetals in South Africas mineral industry.

Industrial mineralsThere are some 674 producers of industrialminerals in South Africa, of which almosthalf are in the sand and aggregate sector.There are some 149 producers of clays(brick-making and special), 40 limestoneand dolomite, 61 dimension stone, 27 saltand 16 silica producers. Sales of primaryindustrial minerals in South Africa grewsteadily at an annualised compound growthrate of 18% from 2004 to 2008.

The industrial minerals sector is drivenby economic growth. Although economicgrowth slowed to 3,1% in 2008 as a resultof the global economic crisis, whose impactbecame apparent at the beginning of thelast quarter of 2008, revenue increasedfrom R6,2 billion in 2004 to R13,6 billion in

2008.Some 88% of total earnings from the saleof industrial minerals are realised in thelocal market.

Aggregate, sand, limestone and lime,which are critical raw materials for con-struction, contributed almost 50% to thevalue of local sales of primary industrialminerals in 2007 and 2008. The local salesvalue of industrial minerals increased fromR5,2 billion in 2004 to R11,9 billion in 2008.Industrial minerals contributed almost 15%to total local mineral sales in 2008.

Processed mineralsTotal sales revenue of processed mineralsincreased by 57,1% from R54,8 billion in2007 to R86,1 billion in 2008, and exportsales accounted for 80% of total sales.

The value of local sales of processedmineral products increased by 32,8% fromR13,1 billion in 2007 to R17,4 billion in

2008.The largest contributors to total saleswere classied commodities at 44% as wellas chromium alloys at 36,9%. Total produc-tion of processed minerals decreased by7,9% to 8,1 Mt in 2008.

GeologySouth Africa has a long and complex geo-logical history dating back more than 3 700billion years. Signicant fragments of thisgeology have been preserved and alongwith them, mineral deposits.

The preservation of so much Archaeangeology, dating back more than 2 500 mil-lion years, has resulted in the ArchaeanWitwatersrand Basin, as well as severalgreenstone belts, being preserved. Ten ofthe more signicant geological formations inSouth Africa are discussed below.

Barberton mountain landThis beautiful and rugged tract of countrywith some of the oldest rocks on Earth isfound south of Nelspruit, Mpumalanga. Therenowned Barberton Greenstone Belt, thelargest of its kind in South Africa, containsremnants of original crust, dated at around3,5 billion years old.

The greenstone formations representthe remains of some of the earliest clearlydecipherable geological events on theEarths surface. Silica-rich layers withinthe greenstone have revealed traces ofa very early life form minute blue-greenalgae. Granites surround the forma-tions and gneisses that are more than3 000 million years old. Gold, iron ore, mag-

nesite, talc, barite, chrysotile asbestos andverdite are mined in the area.

WitwatersrandThe geology and gold mines of the Ridgeof White Waters are world famous.Nearly half of all the gold ever mined hascome from the extensive Witwatersrandconglomerate reefs that were discoveredin 1886, not far from Johannesburgs citycentre. The Witwatersrand is the greatestgoldeld known to mankind. More than50 055 t of gold have been produced fromseven major goldelds distributed in acrescent-like shape along the 350-km longbasin, from Welkom in the Free State in thesouth-west, to Evander in the east.

The geology of the region can be seen atmany outcrops in the suburbs of Johannes-


11/14


burg. The sequence is divided into a lowershale-rich group and an upper sandstone-rich group. The latter contains the important

gold-bearing quartz-pebble conglomerates.These gold reefs were formed from grav-els transported into the basin and reworked2,75 billion years ago. The gold and ura-nium originated from a rich source in thehinterland.

Bushveld Complex andescarpmentThe Bushveld Complex extends over anarea of 65 000 km2 and reaches up to 8 kmin thickness. It is by far the largest knownlayered igneous intrusion in the world and

contains most of the worlds resources ofchromium, PGMs and vanadium.

This mega-complex was emplaced in amolten state about 2 060 billion years agointo pre-existing sedimentary rocks, throughseveral deep feeder zones.

The impressive igneous geology of theBushveld Complex can best be viewed inMpumalanga, in the mountainous terrainaround the Steelpoort Valley. The imposingDwars River chromitite layers, platinum-bearing dunite pipes, the discovery siteof the platinum-rich Merensky Reef, andextensive magnetite-ilmenite layers andpipes near Magnet Heights and KennedysVale are in this area.

The Great Escarpment of Mpumalangais one of South Africas most sceniclandscapes. This area features potholesat Bourkes Luck, the Blyde River Can-yon and the dolomite formation in whichgiant stromatolites bear witness to the2,5-billion-year-old fossiled remains of vastoxygen-producing algae growth.

Drakensberg Escarpmentand Golden Gate HighlandsNational ParkThe main ramparts of the Drakensberg range,reaching heights of more than 3 000 m,lie in KwaZulu-Natal and on the Lesothoborder. These precipitous mountains are thehighest in southern Africa and provide themost dramatic scenery.

They were formed by the partial erosionof a high plateau of basaltic lava, which ismore than 1 500 m thick, and covers theClarens sandstones. Prior to its erosion, thecontinental basalt eld covered signicantlymore of the continent.

The northern area of the Drakensberg hasbeen declared a world heritage site. Morethan 40% of all known San cave paintings insouthern Africa are found here.

The scenic Golden Gate HighlandsNational Park in the Free State fea-tures spectacular sandstone bluffs and

cliffs. The sandstone reects a sandydesert environment that existed around200 million years ago. Dinosaur fossils arestill found in the area.

KarooRocks of the Karoo Supergroup coverabout two thirds of South Africa and reach athickness of several thousand metres. Thesedimentary portion of this rock sequencereveals an almost continuous record ofdeposition and life, from the end of the Car-boniferous into the mid-Jurassic periods,

between 300 million and 180 million yearsago.

Karoo rocks are internationally renownedfor their wealth of continental fossils, andparticularly for the fossils of mammal-likereptiles that show the transition from reptilesto early mammals, and for their early dino-saur evolution.

During this long period of the Earthshistory, southern Africa was a lowland areain the centre of the Gondwana supercon-tinent.

Initially, the prehistoric Karoo was a placeof vast glaciation. It then became a shal-low inland sea, before this was replacedby huge rivers, with lush ood plains andswampy deltas, which dried out to form asandy desert. Finally, vast outpourings ofcontinental basaltic lava accompanied bythe break-up of Gondwana occurred.

Diamond feldsKimberlite is the primary host-rock of dia-monds and was rst mined as weatheredyellow ground from the Kimberley mines,

starting in 1871 at Colesberg koppie, nowthe site of the Big Hole of Kimberley. Atincreasing depths, less-weathered blueground that continued to yield diamondswas encountered.

The discovery of kimberlite-hosted dia-monds was a key event in South Africaseconomic and social development, andpaved the way for the later development ofthe Witwatersrand goldelds.

Kimberlite originates as magma from verydeep below the surface, and typically occursas small volcanic pipes and craters at thesurface. Included within solidied kimber-lites are fragments of deep-seated rocksand minerals, including rare diamonds ofvarious sizes.

The Orange and Vaal rivers alluvial dia-mond elds and the rich West Coast marine


12/14


diamond deposits all originated by erosionfrom primary kimberlite pipes.

Meteorite impact sitesImpacts by large meteoritic projectilesplayed a major role in shaping the surfaceof the Earth.

One such site is the Vredefort Dome, theoldest and largest visible impact structureknown on Earth.

Declared a world heritage site in 2005, itlies some 110 km south-west of Johannes-burg, in the vicinity of Parys and Vredefort inthe Free State and North West.

This spectacular and complex geolo-gical feature, measuring 70 km across,

was caused by the impact of a 10 km-wideasteroid some two billion years ago. Only apartial ring of hills remains of the dome, cre-ated by the rebound of rock below the aster-oids impact site. The original crater noweroded is estimated to have been between250 km and 300 km in diameter.

The Vredefort structure comprises a corezone of granitic rocks, surrounded by a ring-like collar zone of younger bedded forma-tions. Only the north-western portion of thestructure remains visible. The south-easternhalf was ooded by sediments of the KarooSupergroup, which cover the Free State.

About 40 km north of Pretoria is asmall bowl-shaped meteorite-impactcrater, termed Tswaing. Just one kilo-metre in diameter, this is one of the best-preserved and accessible impact cratersof its kind on Earth. It was created about220 000 years ago when a meteorite of about50 m wide slammed into the Earth, and isone of the few impact craters containing acrater lake.

PilanesbergThe Pilanesberg Complex and NationalPark, located some 120 km north-west ofJohannesburg in North West, is a majorscientic attraction which includes a numberof unique geological sites.

The complex consists of an almost per-fectly circular, dissected mountain massifsome 25 km in diameter, making it the third-largest alkaline ring complex in the world.

The geology reects the roots of anancient volcano that erupted some 1,5 bil-lion years ago. The remains of ancient lavaows and volcanic breccias can be seen.

The dominant feature of the complex is theconcentric cone sheets formed by resurgentmagma that intruded ring fractures, createdduring the collapse of the volcano.

There are old mining sites for uoriteand dimension stone, and a non-diamond-bearing kimberlite pipe in the region.

Cradle of HumankindThis world heritage site extends from theWitwatersrand in the south to the Magalies-berg in the north, and is considered to be ofuniversal value because of the outstandingrichness of its fossil hominid cave sites.

The Sterkfontein area near Krugersdorpis the most prolic and accessible fossilhominid site on Earth. It comprises sev-eral scientically important cave locations,including Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Drimo-len, Kromdraai, Gladysvale and Plovers

Lake, all of which have produced a wealthof material crucial to palaeoanthropologicalresearch material.

Table Mountain and the CapePeninsulaTable Mountain is, arguably, South Africasbest known and most spectacular geologi-cal feature, comprising a number of majorrock formations.

The earliest of these are the deformedslates of the Malmesbury Group, whichformed between 560 million and 700 millionyears ago.

Coarse-grained Cape granite intrudedaround 540 million years ago. The TableMountain Group, which started formingabout 450 million years ago, consists ofbasalt, reddish mudstone and sandstonethat is well exposed along Chapmans Peak.Overlying this is the light-coloured sand-stone that makes up the higher mountainsand major cliff faces of the Cape Peninsula,as far south as Cape Point.

Much younger sandy formations make up

the Cape Flats and other low-lying areasadjacent to Table Mountain. The TableMountain Group continues further inlandacross False Bay in the strongly deformedCape Fold Belt.

In October 2010, Sasol sold a 20% stake in itsmining subsidiary to Ixia Coal, a new mining

rm that benets women, as part of a Black

Economic Empowerment deal worth some

R1,8 billion.

The transaction forms part of the companys empower-ment strategy and its commitment to comply with the

objectives of South Africas Mineral and PetroleumResources Development Act, 2002 (Act 28 of 2002),

and the Mining Charter.

i


13/14


Acknowledgements

Council for Geoscience

Department of Mineral ResourcesEskomMining WeeklySouth Africas Mineral Industry, 2007/08

Suggested reading

Bond, P, Dada, R & Erion, G (eds). 2009. Climate change, carbon trading and civil society:negative returns on South African investments. Scotsville: University of KwaZulu-NatalPress.

Machens, EW. 2009. Platinum, gold and diamonds: the adventure of Hans Merenskysdiscoveries. Pretoria: Protea Book House.

Masilo, P & Rautenbach, G. 2008. Commentary on the Mine Health and Safety Act andregulations. Cape Town: Juta.

Mazema, HK et al. 2008. A pilot study into available upstream cleaner production technologiesforthepetroleumreningindustrytomeettherequirementsofthewaste

discharge charge system. Gezina: Water Research Commission.Rainmakers & potstirrers. 2008. Sandton: Miningmx.The South African mining industrys sustainability and transformation report 2007. 2008.

Marshalltown: Chamber of Mines of South Africa.Winkler, H. 2009. Cleaner energy, cooler climate: developing sustainable energy solutions

for South Africa. Cape Town: HSRC Press.

www.bullion.org.zawww.cef.org.zawww.globaldialogue.infowww.gov.zawww.hartrao.ac.zawww.miningweekly.co.za

www.murrob.comwww.sabcnews.comwww.sagoodnews.co.zawww.sasol.co.zawww.southafrica.info


14/14

Rudniki afrika

Documents

Transcript of Rudniki afrika