An ordinary weekend preceding a Monday holiday. And yet extraordinary if you think hard about it.
Archive for the ‘Africa’ Category
Mining History & Grandkids
Posted in Africa, British Columbia, Gold, Mining history, tagged East Geduld, free state, grandkids, kids, mining, South Africa, welcome on May 21, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Bomvu Ridge and Groundwater Modelling in Mining
Posted in Africa, consulting, Geology, Geotechnical, Mining history, Open Pit, Software, tagged bomvu ridge, groundwater model, rock, slope stability on March 7, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
This is a story of a time before computers; before groundwater conceptual models, numerical models, baseline models, and predictive models; before groundwater model calibration, verification, or sensitivity analysis. This is a story of a time when there was no such thing as a professional geohydrologist, hydrogeologists, or groundwater modeller.
Xstrata & Glencore: Wits & Opera Make Mining History
Posted in Africa, Mining history, opera, People, mining, tagged glencore, Goldcorp, opera, university, Witwatersrand, Xstrata on February 5, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
The news at this link is that Xstrata and Glencore are going to consummate their marriage. Analysts will write about the impact another mega-mining company will have on share prices, competition in the mining industry, and the impact of South Africans who fled the country. I will blog below on some of the more obscure aspects of the [...]
MET Opera, Philip Glass, Satyagraha, and Old Mining Memories
Posted in Africa, brandy, mining, Mining history, opera, tagged MET, mining, opera, philip glass, satyagraha on November 19, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Today’s MET Opera Satyagraha by Philip Glass, sung in Sanskrit, set in old South Africa, is a mesmerizing theatrical experience. What there is of a “story” is Gandhi arriving in Natal, then a British colony, finding racialism, leading Indian protests, and twenty years later leaving Natal, by then part of the new (1910) country of [...]
Sierra Leone Diamond Mining as an Inspration for Tea Pary Politicians and Republican Presidential Hopefuls
Posted in About the news, Africa, Diamond, Investing & Finance, mining, tagged Alaska, artesianal mining, Diamond, Sarah Palin, sierra leone on August 21, 2011 | 1 Comment »
The news this week has been mainly bad: more crashing stock markets, more idiotic statements from Republican hopefuls, more countries seizing the mines of the country. The saddest part is that the only idea Republican hopefuls have about resuscitating mining in the US is to abolish the EPA and treat companies like individuals.
Vancouver Junior Mining Companies Versus South African Miners
Posted in Africa, British Columbia, Investing & Finance, Jobs and Salaries, Mining history, tagged junior mining, Ken Llyle, South Africa, Tom Lloyd, Vancouver on July 20, 2011 | 4 Comments »
Here is a conundrum to ponder. In the posting from yesterday (see posting below this one,) I write of why Vancouver has so many Junior Mining Companies. Here is part of a private email I received from some-body commenting on what I wrote. The author of the comment wishes to remain unnamed:
Mine Closure Specialist Job with Leading Auditing Firm
Posted in Africa, Jobs and Salaries, tagged auditing, closure, job, mine, specialist on May 12, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Here is an advert for a job in Johannesburg, South Africa. You would be working for an auditing firm (not entirely sure what they do). Reading the particulars of this job, makes me wonder if there are comparable jobs in the Americas and even Australia.
Acid Mine Drainage threatens Kwa Thema, South Africa. Is this really worse than Global Warming?
Posted in acid mine drainage, Africa, environmental, Global Warming, Gold, Reclamation, Tailings, Underground, Uranium, tagged AMD, East Geduld, Kwa thema, pollution, slimes dam, Tailings, Witwatersrand on April 28, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Growing up on the East Geduld Mine, a gold mine at the far east end of the South African Witwatersrand, we often went to play around the slimes dams and the pools of orange, green, and blue waters that dotted the landscape. Our parent forbade us to go there, for there were stories [...]
Mine Fence Memories
Posted in Africa, Mining history, Uncategorized, tagged fence, Gold, mining, South Africa, Uranium on April 20, 2011 | 1 Comment »
On a joyous Sunday we would pile into the 1949 Mercury and head for the mine sand dumps. In the boot (trunk) of the car, we had stowed corrugated cardboard cut from old boxes. These precious pieces of cardboard we shaped, as best we understood, like sledges. My father regularly drove us out to those [...]
Fraser Institute’s 2010-2011 Mining Survey: The Judgement of Paris?
Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, British Columbia, California, Investing & Finance, Latin America, North America, tagged Fraser Institute, fraser institute. judgement paris, judgement paris, mining on March 6, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Annually the Fraser Institute comes out with a survey of mining countries and ranks them according to how good a place it is to try to find an ore body, to open a mine, to operate a mine. The Institute gives you a good guide about where to invest. I pay considerable attention to what they say. For this [...]