Western deep levels

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Western Deep Levels ("Westliche Tiefbausohlen") or West Wits Operations is a mining area in the Witwatersrand area south of Carletonville , South Africa . The South African mining company AngloGold Ashanti mines gold in three mines there. With a depth of up to 4,000 meters, the pits are the deepest in the world.

Overview

AngloGold Ashanti mined a total of 1.78 million ounces of gold (about 55 t) in South Africa in 2010 , which accounts for 39% of the company's production, and 660 t of uranium as a by-product , of which about 25 t of gold comes from the Western Deep Levels . Both the Mponeng mine (3777 m) and Tautona (3.9 km) are both the deepest mine in the world, and Savuka was also at times 3.7 km. The company plans to further develop the Mponeng and Tautona mines, with Mponeng expected to reach a depth of 5000 m by 2017 [obsolete] .

The working conditions at these depths are very harsh. The rock temperature at a depth of 4000 m is around 60 ° C, the air temperature 55 ° C. Elaborate cooling measures reduce this to 28 ° C.

By fractures and other injuries , it always comes back to personal injury, die every year several miners . Training and other safety measures have reduced the number of deaths from several dozen to a few per year. Several hundred workers develop silicosis every year . As everywhere in South Africa, many miners are HIV-positive and most of them are on antiretroviral drugs .

Mponeng

Mponeng means look at me in Sesotho . The mine used to be called Western Deep Levels South Shaft or simply Shaft No 1 . It is the youngest of the three mines, the shaft was sunk from 1981 and completed in 1986.

The ore from Mponeng is particularly rich with a gold content of more than 8 g / t , so that mining at great depth is worthwhile despite the associated costs. In 2010, Mponeng produced 532,000 ounces of gold (about 16.5 t), the production costs were according to the company at US $ 576 per ounce. Almost 6,000 workers are employed on Mponeng.

Savuka

Savuka is the least significant of the three mines. The name means wake up in isiZulu . The mine used to be called Western Deep Levels West Shaft or simply Shaft No 2 . The shaft was sunk in 1958, and in 2006 Savuka was the deepest mine in the world.

The gold content in Savuka is only 5.3 g / t, in 2010 22,000 ounces (about 700 kg) were produced, whereby the production costs of almost 1,400 US $ per ounce were only slightly below the gold price. About 1000 miners work in Savuka.

Tautona

Tautona means big lion in Sesotho . The mine used to be called Western Deep Levels East Shaft or simply Shaft No 3 . The shaft was sunk from 1957, the main shaft was completed in 1962.

Tautona has a gold grade of 7 g / t, in 2010 with 4500 workers 259,000 ounces (about 8 t) were produced, the production costs were about 1000 US- $ an ounce.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Our regions and operations ( Memento of November 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), AngloGold Ashanti's company website , accessed May 23, 2011
  2. ↑ Safe, deep level mining at record-breaking levels , report on miningweekly.com, accessed May 23, 2011
  3. ↑ Tautona on mining-technology.com accessed 23 May, 2011
  4. ↑ a b 2006 Annual Report ( Memento of December 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) by AngloGold Ashanti, accessed May 23, 2011
  5. ↑ Extreme gold hunting : South Africans want to descend 5,000 meters , report on goldreporter.de, accessed May 23, 2011
  6. ↑ a b Mponeng on mining-technology.com, accessed May 23, 2011
  7. ^ Sustainability Report ( Memento April 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) by AngloGold Ashanti, accessed May 23, 2011
  8. ↑ a b c Annual Report 2010 ( Memento of May 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) by AngloGold Ashanti, accessed May 23, 2011
  9. ↑ Tautona on mining-technology.com accessed 23 May, 2011

Coordinates: 26 ° 25 ′ 18 ″  S , 27 ° 24 ′ 12 ″  E