Mining – Open Pit mining (Palabora)

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It is a fact that South Africa’s copper and iron, and even other resources were mined long before the advent of open pit mines. Some archaeological estimates date mining artifacts back to at least 800 CE. In neighboring Kruger National Park, more than 250 archaeological sites show signs of human occupation back about 1 million years ago.

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DISKRIMINASIE

Sedert 1994, word daar 100% teen slegs blankes in Suid-Afrika gediskrimineer.  Die minderheid bevolkingsgroep in Suid-Afrika is ‘n minderheid blanke volk wat letterlik uit alles, die ekonomie, uit werksgeleenthede en besighede uitgesluit word met regstellende aksie en swart bemagtiging, selfs op sportgebied word blankes uitgesluit.

Inhoudsopgawe B-BBEE Index

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Mynbedrywighede in Suid-Afrika is baie groter as wat ons verskillende burgers dink, omrede ons nie almal van myn tot myn ry om fisies te besigtig nie.  Niemand kan of gaan die werklike omvang bepaal nie.   Sommige mynbedrywighede laat mens nie toe om dit te doen nie, want hul besighede is privaat en agter grensmure of lyndrade ontwikkel.  Alles word omgedolwe, terwyl die helfte van myne nooit gerehabiliteer word nie.   Daar is oor die 6000 myne wat nog nooit gerehabiliteer is nie.

Hierdie spesifieke foto en artikel van Phalaborwa,  bewys weer eens die omvang en skade wat gedoen word aan alle sektore, nie net die landbousektor nie.   Die hele omgewing ly daaronder en dit het absoluut niks te doen met die sogenaamde klimaatveranderinge nie, want dit bestaan nie.  Dis ook duidelik dat geen werklike impakstudies gedoen is van die plattelandse gebiede, wat eens en baie moontlik eens produktiewe plase was nie.

Dis eenvoudig makliker om die vorige regering, apartheid of veral die Boere en blanke burgers die skuld te gee dat hulle volgens die ‘anc oudits’,  op tussen 70-80% van die grond besit.    Dis alles ‘n spul leuens.     Swartes, Khoisan en ander glo die regering se media dekkings dat grondbesit oorheersend aan blankes behoort.  So word leuens die wêreld ingestuur en ons sit hier met die haat en gebakte pere wat niks anders is as varkmis nie.

Myne gee slegs inkomste vir ‘n sekere tydperk, terwyl landbou ‘n langer en volhoubare inkomste kan verseker.   Dus sit heelwat werkers sonder inkomste as daar nie meer gemyn word nie.

Rakende die minerale wat veral op grootskaal uitgehaal word, soos steenkool en ystererts word baie inligting weerhou.   Groot hoeveelhede word eenvoudig landuit gevoer, terwyl die burgers aan die  kortste end trek.    Sou dit wel landbougrond wees wat in ‘n myn ontwikkel het, besit Boere nie meer die landbougrond as daar gemyn word nie, want dit is ‘n waardelose stuk grondgebied wat nie vir landboudoeleindes geskik is nie.   Sodoende is dit ‘n leuen wat aan ‘n groot mas gehang word.   Dis ‘n euwel dat ons blankes se menseregte geskend word.   En wat dit moeiliker maak, is dat selfs die ou regering en liberale blankes ingestem het tot hierdie vernietiging van grond en ook in dieselfde proses raak hul ontslae van die blankes, die volk.

Die vernietigende aarde beleid is ‘n maklike daad wat destyds gebruik is deur die Britse regering toe hulle ons grondgebiede met die twee Anglo-Boere oorloë kom afneem het en maak of dit hulle sin is.  Ons as blankes het net soveel reg as ander miljoene volkslede (30 miljoen plus), soos Khoisan, Griekwas en Zoeloe of ander swartes wat steeds op hul Trust en CPA gebiede bly.

Niemand is gekant teen ontwikkeling en mineraalontginnings nie, maar daar is voorwaardes en in wetgewing vervat, vanaf die kommunistiese regering dat daar impakstudies op alles gedoen moet word.      Ook dorpsontwikkeling moet voldoen aan kommunistiese wetgewings wat munisipaliteite hierby insluit.

Sou impakstudies en rehabilitasie plaasgevind het op al die mineraal ontginnings, soos selfs steenkool wat meestal oopgroef is, sou ons nie met die enorme erosie en besoedeling (water, lug en andersinds) gesit het nie.   Die skaal van ontginning sou ook baie kleiner gewees het, want vandag reik almal net na die hoeveelheid geld wat hulle kan maak met ontginnings.

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Whilst copper forms the base-load of its business, Palabora also mines and exports other by-products such as Magnetite, Vermiculite Sulphuric acid, anode slimes and nickel sulphate.

In the Phalaborwa Carbonatite Complex located in northeastern Transvaal, South Africa, there is a worldfamous Cu deposit. Copper sulphides, magnetite, baddeleyite, apatite and uranoan thorianite have been mined from this deposit. Minor Ni, Au, Pt group metals, Ag, Se, Te, Th and U are also recovered from this complex.

Click to access 51482576.pdf

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The company also collaborates closely with various communities in the Ba-Phalaborwa district to boost economic development and alleviate poverty. The company was owned and managed by Rio Tinto. Rio Tinto owned 57.7% and Anglo American had 16.8% of the shares.

Palabora has been operational since its incorporation in 1956 and is the country’s major producer of refined copper, producing approximately 45 000 tonnages of copper per annum. Palabora Copper is South Africa’s sole producer of refined copper, which it supplies mainly to the local market and export the balance. Whilst copper forms the base-load of its business, Palabora also mines and exports other by-products such as Magnetite, Vermiculite Sulphuric acid, anode slimes and nickel sulphate.

The  company was owned and managed by Rio Tinto. Rio Tinto owned 57.7% and Anglo American had 16.8% of the shares. On 5 September 2012, the two companies announced their intention to sell their respective interests in Palabora. On 11 December 2012, Rio Tinto announced that it has reached a binding sales agreement with a consortium which is committed to the on-going sustainable management of Palabora. The sale agreement was concluded in July 2013, and the company’s name changed from Palabora Mining Company to Palabora Copper (Pty) Limited and the new shareholders are PMC holding 74% and Empowerment Partners holding 26%.

https://www.palabora.com/

The Phalaborwa Complex covers an area of 1950 hectares and consists mainly of a phlogopite- and apatite rich pyroxenite. This pyroxenite is intruded successively by a series of more differentiated rocks – foskorite (phoscorite), and olivine-magnetite-apatite-phlogopite rock and finally a central intrusion of sövite (transgressive carbonatite). The sövite intrusion shows an intimate relationship with foskorite. The sövite (50 hectares at the surface) is composed of calcite and magnetite with minor amounts of dolomite, apatite, chalcopyrite, bornite and various silicates. Furthermore, uraninite-thorianite and baddeleyite are important accessory minerals. The sövite is being mined by large-scale opencast methods mainly for copper with uranium, zirconium and minute amounts of platinum as by-products. The foskorite is mined for the extraction of phosphate. The resources of apatite from the foskorite and the pyroxenite are enormous.

https://www.mindat.org/loc-3091.html

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Copper mining began at Palabora in 1965, and by 1967 the open-pit mine was fully operational. The hole reached 800 meters down into the Earth before the depletion of resources made it uneconomical to continue mining in the pit. Operations moved underground (below the pit) and mostly out of sight in the early 2000s. The new mining method, known as block caving, involves extracting rock below an ore body, letting the ore break under its own weight, and then hauling the ore back to the surface.

Three years after the start of underground mining at Palabora, cracks grew in the wall of the pit until the northwest wall collapsed. The second image shows a detailed view of that landslide, which is still visible in 2019. The collapse damaged some infrastructure—roads, power and water lines, and a railway line—but critical mine infrastructure stayed intact and underground mining continues there today.

Plunging deep into the ground, the gaping hole of an open-pit mine is unmistakable from space. People have excavated such pits on every continent except Antarctica.   The mine pictured here has been growing vertically and horizontally near Phalaborwa, South Africa, for more than 50 years. The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 acquired this image of the Palabora mine on July 2, 2019. It is South Africa’s largest open-pit mine, measuring almost 2 kilometers wide. It is about half the width of the world’s largest open-pit mine, which is at Bingham Canyon in Utah.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0169136816302797?via%3Dihub

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