|
Hlobane Coal Mine Disaster (1983)
The Hlobane Coal Mine Disaster occurred at the Hlobane Colliery, Natal on 12 September 1983. The mine was the scene of another mining disaster 39 years earlier, an event that occurred on same date. A methane explosion in the mine caused burns and poisonous gas that killed 68 miners. Background On 12 September 1983, 80 miners were working underground at the coal mine. Two sections of a horizontal seam cut 6 km into a mountainside was being mined when an explosion occurred. Sixty-four work were killed initially and four badly burnt miners were helicoptered to the Chamber of Mines Hospital in Johannesburg but later died later of their injuries. Twelve workers escaped the mine uninjured. Mine Manager Jurie Blom claimed that the accident was caused by the build-up of methane due to poor ventilation over the weekend and ignited by machinery. The mine, owned by the Iron and Steel Corporation, resumed operations later in the day when miners were "persuaded" to go back down the mine ... [...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] |
Minerals Council South Africa
The Minerals Council South Africa is a South African mining-industry employer organisation. Its members include famous South African mining houses such as Anglo American, De Beers, Gold Fields and Harmony. In its current form, it was founded in 1968 as the Chamber of Mines, a South African wide organization. Prior to that year, it has its early origins as the Transvaal Chamber of Mines in 1887, then evolved over many years reforming as the Witwatersrand Chamber of Mines in 1889, the Chamber of Mines of the South African Republic from 1897, Transvaal Chamber of Mines from 1902 and lastly from 1953 until 1967 as the Transvaal and Orange Free State Chamber of Mines. On 23 May 2018, the South African Chamber of Mines rebranded themselves as the Minerals Council South Africa. Early history On 21 October 1887, the Transvaal Chamber of Mines met for the first time at Central Hotel in Johannesburg. Forty seven people attended the first meeting and its first President was Henry Struben ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demographia, the Johannesburg–Pretoria urban area (combined because of strong transport links that make commuting feasible) is the 26th-largest in the world in terms of population, with 14,167,000 inhabitants. It is the provincial capital and largest city of Gauteng, which is the wealthiest province in South Africa. Johannesburg is the seat of the Constitutional Court, the highest court in South Africa. Most of the major South African companies and banks have their head offices in Johannesburg. The city is located in the mineral-rich Witwatersrand range of hills and is the centre of large-scale gold and diamond trade. The city was established in 1886 following the discovery of gold on what had been a farm. Due to the extremely large gold de ... [...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] |
Mittal Steel South Africa
ArcelorMittal South Africa is part of the steel company Arcelor-Mittal. The company was originally Iscor Ltd., a South African parastatal steel company. It was founded in 1928 and was first listed on the JSE Securities Exchange in 1989. History Establishment of the company Hendrik van der Bijl, one of the most influential South Africans of the twentieth century, together with Dr. Fredrik "Frikkie" Meyer, (a student of Albert Einstein while studying in Berlin), and others, were the main driving force behind the establishment of the South African Iron and Steel Industrial Corp. (Iscor). Iscor, with its first works in Pretoria built by the German Demag, was established as a state company in terms of the Iron and Steel Industry Act, No. 11 of 1928. The objectives of establishing the company were to produce iron and a range of steel products, and to create employment opportunities. Production at the Pretoria plant started in 1934. On 4 April 1934 the first steel was tapped fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mines And Works Act
The Mines and Work Act was a piece of legislation in South Africa, originally passed in 1911, amended in 1912 and 1926 before undergoing further changes in 1956 and 1959. This act legally established South Africa's employment "colour bar." and was enacted to establish the duties and responsibilities of workers in Mines and Works in 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 coun .... Colour Bar Act Reference This act (with/without/or its amendments) is sometimes referred to as the COLOUR BAR or the COLOUR BAR ACT. The term colour bar, however, usually refers to a group of labor practices, informal trade union practices, government regulations, and legislation, all of which were developed over time to prevent blacks from competing for certain categories of jobs monopoliz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brattice
A brattice is a partition used in mining. It is built between columns of a sub-surface mine to direct air for ventilation. Where the mine is sunk at the base of a single shaft, the shaft is divided into two parts by a wooden or metal brattice. Air is delivered down one side of the shaft and exhausted upwards through the other. Depending on the type of mine and how the operation is run, brattices can be permanent (concrete or wood) or temporary (cloth). Temporary installations are also called curtains. Early collieries sometimes only had one pit which was divided by a brattice. A furnace was kept burning within the pit and the hot air rose up the one side of the brattice (the upcast side) drawing cold air down the other (the downcast side). One such pit was Hartley pit. In 1862 the beam of the pumping engine failed and brought down part of the lining resulting in the pit being blocked. All the men trapped underground died from carbon monoxide poisoning as a consequence of the l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Union Of Mineworkers (South Africa)
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is a mainly mining industry related trade union, an organisation of workers with common goals through organised labour, in South Africa. With a membership of 300,000 , it is the largest affiliate of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). History The union was founded in 1982 as a black mine workers union, on the initiative of the Council of Unions of South Africa. Its first leader was Cyril Ramaphosa, under whom it grew rapidly, winning bargaining recognition from the Chamber of Mines in 1983. NUM campaigned successfully in the 1980s for the end of the job reservation system, a system which ensured that the best-paid jobs were allocated to whites. The union was a founding affiliate of the Congress of South African Trade Unions in 1985. In 2001, it absorbed the Construction and Allied Workers' Union, while in 2019 it was announced that it would soon absorb the Liberated Metalworkers' Union of South Africa. NUM was ... [...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] |
