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2022 Jagersfontein Dam Collapse
The 2022 Jagersfontein Tailings Dam Collapse was a structural failure of a mine tailings dam near Jagersfontein, located in the Free State province of South Africa, resulting in a mudslide. Background The Jagersfontein Mine is currently the deepest hand-excavated hole in the world and is known for: * the 972 carat (194.4 g) Excelsior Diamond of 1893 and * the 637 carat (127.4 g) Reitz Diamond of 1895. For the duration of the mine's operational history, it was run by De Beers up to 1972, when it was deproclaimed. De Beers did however retain prospecting rights on the property until 2002. Limited remining operations at the mine were eventually started in September 2010 by a company named Son Op before it changed its name to Jagersfontein Development. Reinet Investments of Luxembourg became involved around 2011, but eventually sold out to Stargems Group around early 2022. A court case, De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd v Ataqua Mining (Pty) Ltd, related to historic dumps were fou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jagersfontein
Jagersfontein is a small town in the Free State province of South Africa. Origin The original farm on which the town stands was once the property of a Griqua Jacobus Jagers, hence the name Jagersfontein. He sold the farm to C.F. Visser in 1854. Mining Diamond rush A diamond rush started in 1870 after farmer J.J. de Klerk found a 50 carat (10 g) diamond. This was about three years before diamonds were discovered 130 km away at Kimberley. Jagersfontein is known for many great finds, such as: *the 972 carat (194.4 g) Excelsior Diamond of 1893 and *the 637 carat (127.4 g) Reitz Diamond of 1895. Jagersfontein Mine Jagersfontein Mine together with the Koffiefontein mine produced some of the clearest diamonds of all mines in the early 1900s, despite being overshadowed by the mines at Kimberley. Streeter called Jagersfontein's diamonds of the "first water". The Reitz diamond was first named after Francis William Reitz, then state president of the Orange Free State in wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyril Ramaphosa
Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa (born 17 November 1952) is a South African businessman and politician who is currently serving as the fifth democratically elected president of South Africa. Formerly an anti-apartheid activist, trade union leader, and businessman, Ramaphosa is also the president of the African National Congress (ANC). Ramaphosa rose to national prominence as secretary general of South Africa's biggest and most powerful trade union, the National Union of Mineworkers. In 1991, he was elected ANC secretary general under ANC president Nelson Mandela and became the ANC's chief negotiator during the negotiations that ended apartheid. He was elected chairperson of the Constitutional Assembly after the country's first fully democratic elections in 1994 and some observers believed that he was Mandela's preferred successor. However, Ramaphosa resigned from politics in 1996 and became well known as a businessman, including as an owner of McDonald's South Africa, chair of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dam Failures
A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aquaculture, and navigability. Hydropower is often used in conjunction with dams to generate electricity. A dam can also be used to collect or store water which can be evenly distributed between locations. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees (also known as dikes) are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. The earliest known dam is the Jawa Dam in Jordan, dating to 3,000 BC. The word ''dam'' can be traced back to Middle English, and before that, from Middle Dutch, as seen in the names of many old cities, such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam. History Ancient dams Early dam building took place in Mesopotamia and the Middle East. Dams were used ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
September 2022 Events In Africa
September is the ninth month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars, the third of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the fourth of five months to have a length of fewer than 31 days. September in the Northern Hemisphere and March in the Southern Hemisphere are seasonally equivalent. In the Northern hemisphere, the beginning of the meteorological autumn is on 1 September. In the Southern hemisphere, the beginning of the meteorological spring is on 1 September. September marks the beginning of the ecclesiastical year in the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is the start of the academic year in many countries of the northern hemisphere, in which children go back to school after the summer break, sometimes on the first day of the month. September (from Latin ''septem'', "seven") was originally the seventh of ten months in the oldest known Roman calendar, the calendar of Romulus , with March (Latin '' Martius'') the first month of the year until ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2022 In South Africa
Events in the year 2022 in South Africa. Incumbents * President: Cyril Ramaphosa (ANC) * Deputy President: David Mabuza (ANC) * Chief Justice: Raymond Zondo * Deputy Chief Justice: Mandisa Maya * President of the Supreme Court of Appeal: TBA * Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Appeal: Xola Petse * Chairperson of the Electoral Court of South Africa: Boissie Henry Mbha * Speaker of the National Assembly: Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula (ANC) * Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly: Lechesa Tsenoli (ANC) * Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly: John Steenhuisen ( DA) * Leader of Government Business: David Mabuza (ANC) * Government Chief Whip (of the National Assembly): Pemmy Majodina (ANC) * Opposition Chief Whip (of the National Assembly): Siviwe Gwarube (DA) * Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces: Amos Masondo (ANC) * Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces: Sylvia Lucas (ANC) * Leader of the Opposition of the National Council of P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tailings Dam
A tailings dam is typically an earth-fill embankment dam used to store byproducts of mining operations after separating the ore from the gangue. Tailings can be liquid, solid, or a slurry of fine particles, and are usually highly toxic and potentially radioactive. Solid tailings are often used as part of the structure itself. Tailings dams rank among the largest engineered structures on earth. The Syncrude Mildred Lake Tailings Dyke in Alberta, Canada, is an embankment dam about long and from high. It is the largest dam structure on earth by volume, and as of 2001 it was believed to be the largest earth structure in the world by volume of fill. There are key differences between tailings dams and the more familiar hydroelectric dams. Tailings dams are designed for permanent containment, meaning they are intended to "remain there forever". Copper, gold, uranium and other mining operations produce varied kinds of waste, much of it toxic, which pose varied challenges for long-term ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piezometer
A piezometer is either a device used to measure liquid pressure in a system by measuring the height to which a column of the liquid rises against gravity, or a device which measures the pressure (more precisely, the piezometric head) of groundwater at a specific point. A piezometer is designed to measure static pressures, and thus differs from a pitot tube by not being pointed into the fluid flow. Observation wells give some information on the water level in a formation, but must be read manually. Electrical pressure transducers of several types can be read automatically, making data acquisition more convenient. Groundwater measurement The first piezometers in geotechnical engineering were open wells or standpipes (sometimes called Casagrande piezometers) installed into an aquifer. A Casagrande piezometer will typically have a solid casing down to the depth of interest, and a slotted or screened casing within the zone where water pressure is being measured. The casing is seal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merriespruit Tailings Dam Disaster
The Merriespruit tailings dam disaster occurred on the night of 22 February 1994 when a tailings dam failed and flooded the suburb of Merriespruit, Virginia, Free State, South Africa. Seventeen people were killed as a result.Wagener, 1997 Late in the afternoon on the day of the failure, a thunderstorm occurred and about 50 mm of rain fell within 30 minutes. When the dam failed, 600 000 m³ of liquid flowed 4 km. The nearest houses were located 300 m downslope of the dam; when the wave of water and tailings reached them, it was 2.5 m high. Seventeen people were killed and there was widespread devastation and environmental damage. Eighty houses were destroyed.Niekerk, 2005 Background When gold-bearing rock is processed and the Gold extraction, gold is extracted, the remaining material is moved to tailings dams as waste, as was the case at the Merriespruit No. 4 facility. Method of construction As is typical with gold tailings in South Africa, the Merriespruit tailing dam was con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
De Beers
De Beers Group is an international corporation that specializes in diamond mining, diamond exploitation, diamond retail, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. The company is active in open-pit, large-scale alluvial and coastal mining. It operates in 35 countries and mining takes place in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Canada and Australia. From its inception in 1888 until the start of the 21st century, De Beers controlled 80% to 85% of rough diamond distribution and was considered a monopoly. Competition has since dismantled the complete monopoly; the De Beers Group now sells approximately 29.5% of the world's rough diamond production by value through its global sightholder and auction sales businesses. The company was founded in 1888 by British businessman Cecil Rhodes, who was financed by the South African diamond magnate Alfred Beit and the London-based N M Rothschild & Sons bank. In 1926, Ernest Oppenheimer, a German immigrant to Britain and later ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Free State (province)
The Free State, known as Orange Free State until the 28th of June 1995 when its name was changed, is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bloemfontein, which is also South Africa's judicial capital. Its historical origins lie in the Boer republic called the Orange Free State and later Orange Free State Province. History The current borders of the province date from 1994 when the Bantustans were abolished and reincorporated into South Africa. It is also the only one of the four original provinces of South Africa not to undergo border changes, apart from the reincorporation of Bantustans, and its borders date from before the outbreak of the Boer War. Law and government The provincial government consists of a premier, an executive council of ten ministers, and a legislature. The provincial assembly and premier are elected for five-year terms, or until the next national election. Political parties are awarded assembly seats based on the percentage of votes each party receive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reitz Diamond
The Jubilee Diamond, originally known as the Reitz Diamond is a colourless, cushion-shaped diamond weighing 245.35 carats (49.07 grams), making it the sixth largest diamond in the world. It was originally named after Francis William Reitz, the then president of the Orange Free State where the stone was discovered, before being renamed to honour the 60th anniversary of the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1897. The original stone, a rough octahedron weighing 650.80 carats (130.16 g), was discovered in 1895 at the Jagersfontein Mine in South Africa. A consortium of diamond merchants from London purchased it along with its even larger sister, the Excelsior, in 1896, and sent it to Amsterdam where it was polished by M.B. Barends. A 40 carat (8 g) chunk was removed, which itself yielded a 13.34 carat (2.668 g) pear-shaped gem eventually purchased by Carlos I of Portugal. Dorabji Tata acquired the Jubilee Diamond around 1900 and gave it to his wife Meherbai who used to wear it during ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
