South Africa South Africa Diamonds, gold, and imperialist intervention (1870–1902): South Africa experienced a transformation between 1870, when the diamond rush to Kimberley began, and 1902, when the South African War ended. Midway between these dates, in 1886, the world's largest goldfields were discovered on the Witwatersrand.
The total direct employment in gold mining across the 15 largest gold mining countries is estimated to be over 500,000. Three countries stand out: South Africa has an estimated 145,600 gold mining employees, Russia 138,000 and China is estimated to have 98,200 employees.
Even more importantly however, the impact that these jobs have is spread widely across communities at large. In South Africa it has been estimated that the impact of one employees' salary in the mining industry on average feeds and clothes the equivalent of ten people, including children and the elderly.
Mining in South Africa has always been an enclave industry, albeit with substantial impact on the rest of the economy. In the main, minerals have been extracted from deep levels, subjected to some basic processing and then exported as ores without a great deal of beneficiation or fabrication.
After a century of mining activity in South Africa, the country remains one of the most geologically blessed regions in the world. South Africa has more than half of the world's reserves of manganese, chromium and platinum group metals. It has 40 per cent or more of the world's vanadium, gold and vermiculite reserves.
Gold mining had to deal with deep, low grade ore requiring large capital and cheap labour to keep costs down. The concentration of capital in gold mining gave the South African economy its basic structure organized around six dominant groupings of capital which extend into manufacture, banking and retail, but have at their basis a
In Africa, because of economic pressures and slower evolution of environmental awareness, local communities have been particularly exposed to the detrimental effects of contamination arising from mining and its effects on public health, agriculture and the environment. In addition, the legacy of mining .
Jul 17, 2017· Economic Benefits of Mining. Similarly, the economic benefits of mining also highlight the economic significance of mining, given that both concepts are subsequent consequences of each other. With the economic significance of this sector affected by the economic benefits of mining, an economist always considers which significant decisions of the sector can positively impact the economy and .
Today, the mining industry remains one of the biggest contributors to the country's economy with an estimated worth of trillion (US trillion). It is the world's fifth largest mining sector in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), contributing eight percent to South Africa's GDP.
The industry is a world leader in many aspects of mining. Seven of the world's ten deepest mines are in South Africa. The mining industry directly led to the establishment of the Universities of Pretoria and the Witwatersrand, and continues to contribute heavily to higher education.
The South African economy is heavily dependent on mining – but in some sectors the real value of output has been on a declining trend as well as being volatile from month to month. South Africa is experiencing deindustrialisation – a falling share of industrial output and jobs as a share of total economic wealth.
South Africa's mining industry is shrinking. At its peak in 1980, mining accounted for a fifth of the country's GDP; the number now stands at %. High costs, low commodity prices, labour strife and falling productivity have all taken their toll. Mines have shed 70,000 jobs over the past five years.
