Gold Mining In South Africa

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Gold mining or mining in general has always been the backbone of South Africa’s economy. Gold was first discovered in 1886 on the Witwatersrand Basin. This discovery made history and led to a massive economic boom. As more people found out about this discovery, more and more men from South Africa and abroad moved to the city in order to work in mines and earn income wherever gold was found, a mine would be opened. This transformed South Africa from an agricultural country to the world’s largest producer of gold. However gold mining that started in the late 1800 is now affecting South Africa’s economy and the health of people living near old mines which are now open land full of heavy metals on the land in in water resources. I will look more …show more content…

Transport and equipment that is being used in the mines releases a lot of unhealthy gases to the atmosphere and the surrounding. These are the explosive when in contact with oxygen (O2), colourless, tasteless odourless methane (CH4). Again according to the USminedisasters.com 520 of the 864 mine disasters listed have been from methane explosion. Working mines who have been moving to places near the West Rand mines inhale the poisonous gas, carbon monoxide (CO) on a daily dose for the duration of working hours. This is because gold mines mostly use diesel equipment underground where there are carbon monoxide is available in small quantities which are dangerous because these quantities cannot eliminate easily when in the …show more content…

Clean water, clean environmental conditions, healthy county, more tourist, and more economic growth.
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