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Hlobane Coal Mine Disaster (1944)
The Hlobane Coal Mine Disaster occurred at the Hlobane Colliery, Natal on 12 September 1944. During drilling of a dyke in a coal seam, methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Eart ... built up during the night due to insufficient ventilation in the mine. The explosion was said to have been caused by a miner relighting his lamp. He was in charge of monitoring the methane levels and its high levels had extinguished his lamp. The explosion resulted in the deaths of 57 miners and six serious injuries. References Mining disasters in South Africa Coal in South Africa Mining in South Africa 1944 in South Africa 1944 mining disasters 1944 disasters in South Africa {{disaster-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hlobane
Hlobane is a town in Zululand District Municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Coal-mining centre 27 km east of Vryheid and 31 km south-west of Louwsburg. The locality was known as such in the 19th century and the name applied to the town in 1924. Of Zulu origin, it is said by some to mean ‘beautiful place’, and by others ‘place of dispute’. It was the scene of the battle of Hlobane The Battle of Hlobane (28 March 1879) took place at Hlobane, near the modern town of Vryheid in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa during the Anglo-Zulu War The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdo ... in the Zulu War, on 28 March 1879. Bibliography * Ian Knight, Ian Castle, ''Rorke's Drift : Zulu War'', Leo Cooper, UK, 2000. . References External links * Hlobane, Battlefield Populated places in the Abaqulusi Local Municipality Mining communities in South Africa {{KwaZuluNatal-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natal (province)
The Province of Natal (), commonly called Natal, was a province of South Africa from May 1910 until May 1994. Its capital was Pietermaritzburg. During this period rural areas inhabited by the black African population of Natal were organized into the bantustan of KwaZulu, which was progressively separated from the province, becoming partially autonomous in 1981. Of the white population, the majority were English-speaking people of British descent, causing Natal to become the only province to vote "No" to the creation of a republic in the referendum of 1960, due to very strong monarchist, pro-British Commonwealth, and anti-secessionist sentiment. In the latter part of the 1980s, Natal was in a state of violence between the Inkatha Freedom Party and the African National Congress, with violence subsidising soon after the first non-racial election in 1994.Taylor, Rupert. "Justice denied: political violence in Kwazulu‐Natal after 1994." African Affairs 101, no. 405 (2002): 473-508. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini. It also completely enclaves the country Lesotho. It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World, and the second-most populous country located entirely south of the equator, after Tanzania. South Africa is a biodiversity hotspot, with unique biomes, plant and animal life. With over 60 million people, the country is the world's 24th-most populous nation and covers an area of . South Africa has three capital cities, with the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government based in Pretoria, Bloemfontein, and Cape Town respectively. The largest city is Johannesburg. About 80% of the population are Black South Afri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dike (geology)
A dike or dyke, in Geology, geological usage, is a sheet of rock that is formed in a Fracture (geology), fracture of a pre-existing rock body. Dikes can be either Intrusive rock, magmatic or Sedimentary rock, sedimentary in origin. Magmatic dikes form when magma flows into a crack then solidifies as a sheet intrusion, either cutting across layers of rock or through a contiguous mass of rock. Clastic dikes are formed when sediment fills a pre-existing crack.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Ed, Stephen Marshak Magmatic dikes A magmatic dike is a sheet of igneous rock that cuts across older rock beds. It is formed when magma fills a fracture in the older beds and then cools and solidifies. The dike rock is usually more resistant to weathering than the surrounding rock, so that erosion exposes the dike as a natural wall or ridge. It is from these natural walls that dikes get their name. Dikes preserve a record of the fissures through which most mafic magma (fluid magma low in silica) reac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coal Seam
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United Kingdom and South Africa, a coal mine and its structures are a colliery, a coal mine is called a 'pit', and the above-ground structures are a 'pit head'. In Australia, "colliery" generally refers to an underground coal mine. Coal mining has had many developments in recent years, from the early days of men tunneling, digging and manually extracting the coal on carts to large open-cut and longwall mines. Mining at this scale requires the use of draglines, trucks, conveyors, hydraulic jacks and shearers. The coal mining industry has a long history of significant negative environmental impacts on local ecosystems, health impacts on local communities and workers, and contributes heavily to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Methane
Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Earth makes it an economically attractive fuel, although capturing and storing it poses technical challenges due to its gaseous state under normal conditions for temperature and pressure. Naturally occurring methane is found both below ground and under the seafloor and is formed by both geological and biological processes. The largest reservoir of methane is under the seafloor in the form of methane clathrates. When methane reaches the surface and the atmosphere, it is known as atmospheric methane. The Earth's atmospheric methane concentration has increased by about 150% since 1750, and it accounts for 20% of the total radiative forcing from all of the long-lived and globally mixed greenhouse gases. It has also been detected on other plane ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Underground Mine Ventilation
Underground mine ventilation provides a flow of air to the underground workings of a mine of sufficient volume to dilute and remove dust and noxious gases (typically NOx, SO2, methane, CO2 and CO) and to regulate temperature. The source of these gases are equipment that runs on diesel engines, blasting with explosives, and the orebody itself. The largest component of the operating cost for mine ventilation is electricity to power the ventilation fans, which may account for one third of a typical underground mine's entire electrical power cost. Types of ventilation Flow-through ventilation is the main ventilation circuit for the mine. Air enters the mine from surface via a shaft, ventilation raise or adit. The air is distributed through the mine via internal ventilation raises and ramps, and flows are controlled by regulators and permanently mounted ventilation fans. An auxiliary ventilation system takes air from the flow-through system and distributes it to the mine w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mining Disasters In South Africa
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic viability of investing in the equipment, labor, and energy required to extract, refine and transport the materials found at the mine to manufacturers who can use the material. Ores recovered by mining include metals, coal, oil shale, gemstones, limestone, chalk, dimension stone, rock salt, potash, gravel, and clay. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agricultural processes, or feasibly created artificially in a laboratory or factory. Mining in a wider sense includes extraction of any non-renewable resource such as petroleum, natural gas, or even water. Modern mining processes involve prospecting for ore bodies, analysis of the profit potential of a proposed mine, extraction of the desired materials ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coal In South Africa
South Africa produces in excess of 255 million tonnes of coal (2011 estimate) and consumes almost three-quarters of that domestically. As of 2018, South Africa was the seventh largest producer and consumer of coal in the world. This large industry, means that as of 2015 about 80,000 workers, or .5% of total employment, was from the coal industry, down from a peak in 1981 of 135,000 workers. The coal industry is South Africa's largest contribution to the greenhouse gases that cause climate change. Around 77% of South Africa's energy needs are directly derived from coal. South Africa is the 5th largest exporter of coal in the world, with 30% consumed overseas. 92% of coal consumed on the African continent is produced in South Africa. 80% of South Africa's emissions come from the energy supply which is dependent on coal, which produced the vast majority of the country's energy, or 42GWs. In negotiations leading up to the COP26 Climate Conference in Glasgow, South Africa and it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mining In South Africa
Mining in South Africa was once the main driving force behind the history and development of Africa's most advanced and richest economy. Large-scale and profitable mining started with the discovery of a diamond on the banks of the Orange River in 1867 by Erasmus Jacobs and the subsequent discovery and exploitation of the Kimberley pipes a few years later. Gold rushes to Pilgrim's Rest and Barberton were precursors to the biggest discovery of all, the Main Reef/Main Reef Leader on Gerhardus Oosthuizen's farm Langlaagte, Portion C, in 1886, the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the subsequent rapid development of the gold field there, the biggest of them all. Diamond and gold production are now well down from their peaks, though South Africa is still number 5 in gold but remains a cornucopia of mineral riches. It is the world's largest producer of chrome, manganese, platinum, vanadium and vermiculite. It is the second largest producer of ilmenite, palladium, rutile and zirconium. It ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1944 In South Africa
The following lists events that happened during 1944 in South Africa. Incumbents * Monarch: King George VI. * Governor-General and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Nicolaas Jacobus de Wet. * Prime Minister: Jan Christiaan Smuts. * Chief Justice: Ernest Frederick Watermeyer. Events * 4 April – An Allied surveillance aircraft of 60 Squadron SAAF photographs part of Auschwitz concentration camp. Births * 12 January – Eileen KaNkosi-Shandu, leader of the Inkatha Women Brigade. * 27 February – Graeme Pollock, former cricketer & cricket administrator * 3 March – Jerrold Kessel, South-African-born Israeli journalist and author. (d. 2011) * 9 March – Lee Irvine, cricketer * 23 June – Clive Barker (soccer), 1996 Africa Cup of Nations winning coach Deaths * 19 September – Johannes Jacobus le Roux, Second World War fighter pilot, dies in an aircraft accident in France. Railways * The Namaqualand Railway line from Port Nolloth to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1944 Mining Disasters
Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in North Africa. ** Landing at Saidor: 13,000 US and Australian troops land on Papua New Guinea, in an attempt to cut off a Japanese retreat. * January 8 – WWII: Philippine Commonwealth troops enter the province of Ilocos Sur in northern Luzon and attack Japanese forces. * January 11 ** President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt proposes a Second Bill of Rights for social and economic security, in his State of the Union address. ** The Nazi German administration expands Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp into the larger standalone ''Konzentrationslager Plaszow bei Krakau'' in occupied Poland. * January 12 – WWII: Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle begin a 2-day conference in Marrakech ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
