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I finished the last article no. 4 mentioning the Witwatersrand gold rich reef in South Africa which was and still is the largest gold producing reef in the world. Since its discovery in 1886 it has produced gold in prodigious amounts however, unlike nuggets and alluvial deposits this gold is contained in a conglomerate. It needs a very complicated and incredibly polluting form of production which can only be made possible by vast financial investment and manpower. The days of the prospector with a pan, pick, shovel and tent were over when they discovered that gold below 500 feet needed to be processed, not picked.
Cecil Rhodes and Barney Banarto were men who had already made their fortunes from the Kimberley Diamond fields of South Africa, they were in the position to divert some of their interests to gold. They brought with them the finance, machinery, manpower in fact all of the facilities needed to extract the minute particles of gold from the quartz conglomerate and so the mining town of Johannesburg was born.
A battle ensued between these power hungry men over the next couple years, however the once vaudeville presenter, Barney Banarto gave way to the university graduate Rhodes. By 1890 most of the small operators had given up and moved away, gone back to their farms or moved away in search of better pickings elsewhere.
It was two brothers named Forest and a chap called MacArthur who were responsible for the recovery process of gold. They arrived in Johannesburg from Glasgow and revolutionised the industry (The cyanide process) was born. The Process:-
The conglomerate is crushed in massive ball mills and reduced to a sludge/slurry, mixed with mercury and vaporised leaving the gold at the bottom.
The gold residue goes into barrels of cyanide of potassium where it is clarified, zinc is added to precipitate the gold, it is then washed off with sulphuric acid to remove the zinc and roasted or calcined in an oven.
The gold at this stage is 60% pure so further refining is needed, it is mixed with sand, borax and manganese which is smelted. Chlorine gas passes down a tube into the furnace to turn the silver and base metals into chlorides which are then removed. Finally the gold is then boiled with hydrochloric and nitric acids for 6-8 hours. The gold rich liquid is then siphoned off, washed with hydrochloric acid and further refined to end up at the ultimate quality (Triple Nine 24 carat) as it is known.
This pure gold is then further processed to produce 9ct,14ct,18ct,22ct, in wire, grain or sheet etc.
in various colours White, Green, Blue , Purple and Red and different hardnesses, Enamel - Soft.
Breaking news ! 27,07,2009 Just released to the Mining Industries Journal.
The downturn in the diamond industry and a slump in the prices of gold and platinum resulted in the South African economy shrinking for the first time in a decade. Gross domestic product fell by 1.8 percent in the last three months of 2008 from the previous quarter. This week Lonmin, the world's third biggest platinum producer, added to the woes by cutting 5,500 jobs at two South African mines. The country's gold production fell by 13.6 per cent, to the lowest level since 1922, recent figures show.
Gold has been dropping in price since its high in March and yesterday 26,7,2009 China disclosed to the mining industries that they have discovered three new enormous gold mines.
Perhaps somebody should let the public know about this little secret as now on National television they are telling everybody that Gold it is hitting all time records. (More News)
The human rights watch organisation has called on Zimbabwe to stop immediately the
Kimberley process (diamond industry) Watchdog following reverlations of horrific human
rights abuses in the country’s informal diamond mines.
Just For What it’s Worth! Double think,,,,
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