FEATURE - S.Africa gold mine blasts to new world record
02:01 a.m. May 22, 1998 Eastern PART 1
By Darren Schuettler
CARLETONVILLE, South Africa, May 22 (Reuters) - A ride down into the
deepest mine in the world is an ear-popping rush in a man-sized bucket
plunging nearly four km (2.5 miles) toward the earth's fiery core.
Under tonnes of solid rock, hundreds of sweating miners are digging,
blasting and scraping their way towards South Africa's new frontier --
ultra-deep mining.
''When people hear that we're going to four kilometres, they say 'Wow,
it sounds like you're going to Mars...and mining in space suits','' said
Dave Diering, a deep-mine expert for Anglogold Ltd, the world's biggest
gold company.
''It's really a natural progression of what we've been doing for
years.''
South Africa's gold mines, the backbone of the country since the late
19th century, are already the deepest in the world. With most of the
shallow reserves gone, the industry is venturing even deeper in search
of the rich ore.
At Western Deep Levels Ltd, about 70 km (43.5 miles) from Johannesburg
along the famed Witswatersrand basin, the mine's south shaft will become
the deepest man-made point on earth next year.
Miners have already dug to 3,737 metres, (12,200 feet) 40 metres (131
feet) shy of the mine's west shaft, the current world record holder at
3,777 metres (12,300 feet). They will eventually stop at 4,170 metres
(13,600 feet) after the turn of the century.
SOUTH AFRICAN GOLD MINING A TOUGH, DANGEROUS JOB
Embedded deep in hard quartzite rock, South African gold is more
difficult, expensive and dangerous to extract than North American or
Australian mines where the precious metal sits closer to the surface. |
