South Africa is a world leader both in terms of mineral resources and in the development of mining technology to extract these resources. The industry leads the world in many areas, both historically and currently and has had enormous impact on the growth of Africa and on the environment.

The Big Hole of Kimberly was dug by hand, using picks and shovels. There is debate about whether the Big Hole is the biggest hand dug open cast mine in the world. Its surface area of 17 hectares (42 acres) and depth of around 200 metres (650 ft) required the excavation of around 25 million tons of earth and rock. This was achieved in 52 years between 1866 and 1914 by a workforce of up to 50,000 miners. What is beyond dispute though is that The BIg Hole yielded 2,720 kilograms (6000 lb) of diamonds significantly more than the Jagersfontein mine, the other contender for the title of biggest. After all what better metric is there than output!

The Jagersfontein open pit mine, the other contender for Jagersfontein Open Pit Mine the "biggest" title, was dug by hand to a depth of 660 feet (201 m) by 1911 before underground mining began in 1913, after three decades of open-pit mining. The mine yielded 1,900 kg (4200 lb) of jewel-quality diamonds before its closure in 1971. This is just over two thirds of the quantity extracted from the Big Hole. However, research by historian Steve Lunderstedt in 2005 confirmed that the mine was the deepest hand-excavated hole in the world, but perhaps more significant is that it produced two of the 10 largest diamonds ever mined the Excelsior and the Reitz.

Over the years the Savuka mine, which is 3,777 meters (12 400 ft) deep, became widely known as the deepest mine in the world. But on the 3rd of February 2009, the Mponeng mine dug to 3,778 meters below the surface taking over the crown as the worlds deepest mine. The fact that the Mponeng’s production cost is $ 9,000 / kg while the price of gold is $ 30,000 / kg shows why its worth the complexity of mining this deep under the surface where the temperature is 55 degrees Celsius. The mine runs various plants with a total of 76 MW of refrigeration to keep the working temperature bearable. Mining engineer foresee that it will eventually be possible to mine at 6 000m.

The Cullinan Diamond, which was recovered at the Cullinan Diamond Cullinan Diamond Mine on 26 January, 1905 weighed 3,106 carats in its uncut form. It was found by Frederick Wells, surface manager of the Premier Diamond Mining Company in Cullinan, Gauteng, South Africa. The stone was named after Sir Thomas Cullinan, the owner of the mine and was bought by the Transvaal government and presented to King Edward VII on his birthday. The largest polished gem from the stone was named the Cullinan I or the Great Star of Africa. At 530.2 carats (106.0 g) was the largest cut diamond until the Golden Jubilee from the same mine was cut to a weight of 545.7 carats (109.1 g) in 1985.

SASOL is the world’s largest miner of feedstock for the production of petroleum products from low grade coal. It mines a total of approximately 45 million tons of coal a year, which is used to produce 7.3 million tons of synfuel and a range of other hydrocarbons from heavy waxes to gas. SASOL uses approximately 15% of the countries coal production to produce almost a third of its petroleum and diesel. SASOL has become a world leader in the production of liquid fuels from gas, as a consequence of its massive research investment over the years in Fischer Tropsch technology. All this is the outcome of the South African Government investing in the production of oil from coal, which was first produced in 1955, to promote liquid fuel self sufficiency.

The mining industry in South Africa was mainly staffed TEBAby migrant laborers in a move to restrict the permanent settlement of blacks in the towns and cities that were growing around the mining areas. This was later in line with the government’s policies but also suited the mining companies as it provided a constant supply of cheap labour. The Chamber of Mines established TEBA (The Employment Bureau of Africa) through the amalgamation of other agencies in 1997. TEBA continues to this day to be the central recruitment organization for all black mine workers from Southern Africa. At its peak it was recruiting 480 000 miners a year from across Southern Africa.

Reprinted with permission from Ecoworldly.com