Implats workers want to double wages

[Vrotappel]

 

[Sinbad]

If this continues many of the marginal mines will close. What will the strikers do with no jobs?

Next month South Africa will officially be in job recession.

Advanced economics says this is just fine as long as some of the miners earn more, right?

 

[Mila]

Also I think we still use labour where other countries use machines.
HAve you seen a union get a hissy fit if you replace people with machines

 

[Mila]

http://www.goldsheetlinks.com/production.htm


Jeepers.

 

[Sinbad]

http://www.goldsheetlinks.com/production.htm


Jeepers.

Wow, look how SA's actual numbers are going backwards. Scary.

 

[w1z4rd]

So again you're making pronouncements without having all the facts.

Actually I was using a dumbed down analogy to make a lose point. It was not factual.

Australian gold mines seem to max out around 1000m depth

Cool, so how to the platinum mines compare? How do the diamond mines compare? How do the copper mines compare? etc etc. South Africa is the most minerally rich country in the world

I'm sure someone as smart as you can work out that it costs a LOT more to extract minerals from that much deeper, right?

Im sure someone as smart as you can work out there is more than one mineral.

 

[w1z4rd]

Im busy reading up the conditions these okes in super deep gold mines in SA work under:

The ambitious new mining projects are "ultra-deep" mines with shafts that are deeper than 2.2 miles (3.5 kilometers) in the ground, where temperatures rise well over a hundred degrees Fahrenheit (55 degrees Celsius) and rock shatters like glass.

Our okes really do have it ****.

 

[Kornhub]

Wonder how many more mines will follow.

 

[Mila]

Actually I was using a dumbed down analogy to make a lose point. It was not factual.


Cool, so how to the platinum mines compare? How do the diamond mines compare? How do the copper mines compare? etc etc. South Africa is the most minerally rich country in the world


Im sure someone as smart as you can work out there is more than one mineral.

Which mine?

http://www.miningweekly.com/article...ive-mining-destination-gold-fields-2012-02-17

 

[w1z4rd]

Which mine?

http://www.miningweekly.com/article...ive-mining-destination-gold-fields-2012-02-17

Power and labour are more expensive in just about every developed country..... and who are still able to pull their minerals out the ground and make good profit.

 

[czc]

Everyone is ignoring the fact that the rock drillers package is actually double than what they say it is.

http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politi...b/en/page71619?oid=320512&sn=Detail&pid=71616

 

[Sinbad]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minerals_Resource_Rent_Tax


Well, say I am an international mining baron based in London. I have a mine in South Africa and a mine in Australia. Both are gold mines. If I can afford to pay to get the gold out of Australia at X I can do the same for South Africa at that price.

Actually I was using a dumbed down analogy to make a lose point. It was not factual.


Im sure someone as smart as you can work out there is more than one mineral.

Man, again, do you read your previous posts? You just like to shift the goalposts whenever it seems like someone is about to get one over on you.

 

[w1z4rd]

Man, again, do you read your previous posts? You just like to shift the goalposts whenever it seems like someone is about to get one over on you.

It really was a dumbed down analogy (one that I am happy to say you enlightened me more on).... Im not sure if you know, but I think I better clear this up based upon your interpretation of my post. I am not really an international mining baron either.

Still waiting for that information on the depths of all our other minerals

 

[Mila]

Power and labour are more expensive in just about every developed country..... and who are still able to pull their minerals out the ground and make good profit.

Why is it then that ours is more expensive to take out?

South Africa is one of the most expensive countries for gold mining, with the cost per ounce of gold produced averaging at $968, Gold Fields CEO Nick Holland said on Friday, delivering the miner’s financial results for the 2011 financial year
The cost per ounce of gold produced at the company’s other operations across the globe varied from $435/oz at the Cerro Corona operation, in Peru, to $590/oz at Tarkwa and Damang, in Ghana and $841/oz at its St Ives and Agnew projects, in Australia.

 

[Sinbad]

Why is it then that ours is more expensive to take out?

Depth and I would imagine yield per ton of ore.

 

[w1z4rd]

Why is it then that ours is more expensive to take out?

I would say as you pointed out. Our gold is deep. I was looking for other deep mines and ours are without a doubt the deepest.

About 95% of South Africa's gold mines are underground operations, reaching depths of over 3.8 km. Due to declining ore grades, increased depth of mining, personnel problems, power interruptions and rising production costs the output has been steadily falling.

So it seems a combination of factors. We raped all the shallow gold and now the **** we have deep down there is becoming less profitable to mine. Oh well. Guess its time to move onto our other minerals.

Thank goodness we have more valuable platinum that we can use to uplift our country with Or do we have the deepest platinum mines as well?

 

[Sinbad]

South Africa’s current deepest platinum mine is
Northam, whose No 2 shaft goes to a depth of 2 100 m
(with a further extension of 300 m planned), but generally
most platinum is still mined from underground
working areas extending from close to surface to
around 1 000 m. But Wrigley argues that this is changing
fast, with at least 10 shafts in the country already
going to below 1 000 m with several more planned.

http://www.villagemainreef.co.za/news/media-2010/Modern-Mining-June-2010.pdf

 

[Mila]

I would say as you pointed out. Our gold is deep. I was looking for other deep mines and ours are without a doubt the deepest.



So it seems a combination of factors. We raped all the shallow gold and now the **** we have deep down there is becoming less profitable to mine. Oh well. Guess its time to move onto our other minerals.

Thank goodness we have more valuable platinum that we can use to uplift our country with Or do we have the deepest platinum mines as well?

http://www.scielo.org.za/img/revistas/jsaimm/v111n9/a01fig15.jpg

It is tempting for politicians to promise riches to the poor of the country. Sharing an industry with an income of around R250 billion to R300 billion per year sounds wonderful. However, what is not stated is that far more than 80% of that income is already in the hands of the people, (see Figure 15). Of the income, 48% is spent on procurement, the vast majority from South African BEE companies. Salaries and wages, paid to South Africans, account for another 18%. All the money, except for the 6% paid out as dividends, is spent in order to remain operative

http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?pid=S0038-223X2011000900001&script=sci_arttext

 

[Sinbad]

And the taxes as well...

 

[dlk001]

Also I think we still use labour where other countries use machines.
HAve you seen a union get a hissy fit if you replace people with machines

Our gold deposits are deep, tabular, narrow : Mechanised mining will not work . Only South Deep / Target Mine have orebodies suited to mechanised mining. Australian mines have shallow, vain, massive orebodies which are suited to mechanised or trackless mining.

Our gold deposits are generally richer (high grade) . This is why they are worth the high investment risk, high mining costs.

Our gold mines are a bigger social risk (safety, health, environment). This is one of the reasons AngloAmerican has pulled out of gold in SA. Our environmental, social and safety legislations are being tightened. This makes gold mining expensivee, even at post-mine closure.