ecologics – newsletter story

Sustainable Mining of Tailings in South Africa Mon 21 Feb 05

As the N1 highway leaves Johannesburg it passes by this mining dump, one of over fifty in the greater Johannesburg area. The presence of these dumps is perfectly legal, approval being given for them in the process of granting mining licenses. The city has simply grown around them, they are an eyesore, a health hazard and many of them contain significant quantities of gold, platinum and other valuable minerals.

Although these dumps are legal, there is still public and government pressure to repatriate these sites and in recent years a few have disappeared. Some mining interests have attempted to recover minerals from the dumps as part of the repatriation process, but are said to be struggling to maintain profitability and are not expected to continue much longer.

There is enormous potential for long term gainful employment here re-processing these dump sites and repatriating the environment during the process. There is a number of small scale ventures in operation re-processing tailings but many struggle to recover sufficient minerals to meet their running costs. There is quite a large cost in purchasing the equipment being used and without the generosity of a donor these projects would never get off the ground at all.

Both the government and some large mining interests help by providing expert advise on the processing itself and the ongoing viability of projects. ecologics gained permission to conduct trials with our own equipment on a number of sites. In some cases we broke new ground while on others we worked alongside or as an element in established operations. Assisted by independent geologists we gathered some very valuable data. The existence and density of minerals varies in layers in the dumps which varies from dump to dump. This is a reflection of the processing employed through the history of a site and from site to site.

One site tested revealed values up to 3 grams of gold,1 gram of platinum and other significant minerals, per tonne of material processed. Some sites are clearly not in the money having been efficiently processed originally, but many are well worth the effort and will support sustainable, low tech, long term operations.

With the correct permission, it is our determination to identify the most suitable of these dumps so that they may become sources of employment. ecologics' small-scale mining equipment is low capital cost, zero running cost and requires very little operator skill. These factors alone increase the possibility of large numbers of people achieving long-term well paid employment from what appears to many to be an ugly waste mountain that not even weeds want to grow on.

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Home Newsletter Small-scale Mining Small-scale Irrigation Step Action Pump Gravity Concentrator Accessories Downloads Contact Us	ecologics – newsletter story Sustainable Mining of Tailings in South Africa Mon 21 Feb 05 As the N1 highway leaves Johannesburg it passes by this mining dump, one of over fifty in the greater Johannesburg area. The presence of these dumps is perfectly legal, approval being given for them in the process of granting mining licenses. The city has simply grown around them, they are an eyesore, a health hazard and many of them contain significant quantities of gold, platinum and other valuable minerals. Although these dumps are legal, there is still public and government pressure to repatriate these sites and in recent years a few have disappeared. Some mining interests have attempted to recover minerals from the dumps as part of the repatriation process, but are said to be struggling to maintain profitability and are not expected to continue much longer. There is enormous potential for long term gainful employment here re-processing these dump sites and repatriating the environment during the process. There is a number of small scale ventures in operation re-processing tailings but many struggle to recover sufficient minerals to meet their running costs. There is quite a large cost in purchasing the equipment being used and without the generosity of a donor these projects would never get off the ground at all. Both the government and some large mining interests help by providing expert advise on the processing itself and the ongoing viability of projects. ecologics gained permission to conduct trials with our own equipment on a number of sites. In some cases we broke new ground while on others we worked alongside or as an element in established operations. Assisted by independent geologists we gathered some very valuable data. The existence and density of minerals varies in layers in the dumps which varies from dump to dump. This is a reflection of the processing employed through the history of a site and from site to site. One site tested revealed values up to 3 grams of gold,1 gram of platinum and other significant minerals, per tonne of material processed. Some sites are clearly not in the money having been efficiently processed originally, but many are well worth the effort and will support sustainable, low tech, long term operations. With the correct permission, it is our determination to identify the most suitable of these dumps so that they may become sources of employment. ecologics' small-scale mining equipment is low capital cost, zero running cost and requires very little operator skill. These factors alone increase the possibility of large numbers of people achieving long-term well paid employment from what appears to many to be an ugly waste mountain that not even weeds want to grow on. << back to main newsletter page