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To: Richard Mazzarella who wrote (12197)	5/26/1998 8:13:00 PM
From: bobby beara	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116834

RM, you remain my greatest contrary indicator, this time I won't let you fool me, I'm still smarting on mine. On the intermediate chart the last time we broke out of the b bands downside was January 12th. On the long term chart we are sitting right on the mid support line. We may get the crash up I'm looking for yet. bobby b

To: Richard Mazzarella who wrote (12197)	5/26/1998 8:41:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116834

Death of gold mining? may be not.. FEATURE-S.Africa's Deepmine eyes ultra-deep mining frontier 02:06 a.m. May 26, 1998 Eastern By Darren Schuettler JOHANNESBURG, May 26 (Reuters) - Miners in spacesuits. Robots digging round the clock. Colonies of men living and working for days under five km (three miles) of solid rock. These are a few of the ideas floating around South Africa's gold industry as it sets out to explore a 21st century frontier -- ultra-deep mining. South Africa has the deepest mines in the world, but many shallower areas are mined out and the industry is probing previously unthinkable depths of up to five km. The challenge has drawn mine executives, union leaders, government officials and scientists into a massive research project called Deepmine. ''We'll be looking at everything from rock engineering to things that are real science fiction,'' Deepmine chairman Keith Spencer told Reuters in a recent interview. The prize for going deeper than ever before is a vast reserve of gold at least equal to what has been mined already. It would extend the life of South Africa's venerable mines well into the next century and Deepmine's expertise could be exported overseas. But getting to five km and working there presents an enormous challenge. Deepmine has just approved several projects to tackle issues like shaft design, geology, financing, health and safety. The temperature at five km is a blistering 70 degrees Celsius (158 Fahrenheit), while the pressure could pose other health problems for miners. ROBOTS? UNDERGROUND LIVING QUARTERS? Most mines use huge refrigeration units to pump cool air into tunnels as deep as 3.7 km (2.3 miles). But cooling costs at five km may be too high, prompting some experts to contemplate outfitting miners in climate-controlled suits. Others suggest using robots operated by remote control from the surface, able to mine 24-hours a day. Some futuristic thinkers have even proposed underground living quarters where miners could work and live for several days, much like a oil rig at sea. ''We'll look at everything, but probably nine of out every 10 science fiction ideas we'll throw away,'' said Spencer, who is also technology chief at Gold Fields Ltd. Deep level mining is not new in South Africa. Anglogold Ltd, Gold Fields and Durban Roodepoort -- the three gold companies in Deepmine -- currently operate mines at more than three km (1.8 miles). Anglogold's Western Deep Levels is the world's deepest mine at 3,777 metres (12,300 feet). Anglogold chief executive Bobby Godsell kicked off the ultra-deep drive two years ago when he challenged his engineers to find a way to mine at five km. Godsell had his eye on a vast, lucrative gold reef called Western Ultra Deep Levels (WUDLS). ''I was the project manager at Western Deep south wondering how the heck we were going to get to four kilometres and here's my boss telling me we're on our way to five kilometres. It came as a bit of a surprise,'' said Dave Diering, a deep mine expert at Anglogold who recently won an award for his work at a mining conference in Canada. Anglogold has spent 35 million rand ($6.9 million) on a 3-D surface seismic survey of WUDLS and plans a 200 million rand ($39.6 million) drilling program. The area could hold up to 50 million ounces of gold. ULTRA-DEEP MEANS FEWER WORKERS The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), fearing job losses due to technology, is keeping a wary eye on the Deepmine project. Slumping gold prices have forced painful restructurings at the country's once-mighty gold firms, including thousands of retrenchments. Some experts believe today's labour-intensive operations would be too costly at ultra depths. ''We are entering this whole exercise very cautiously,'' said NUM spokesman Devan Pillay. ''It has not been shown yet that ultra-deep mining can be done with machines only.'' While Deepmine's research may lead to new high-tech jobs for South Africa, the reality is ultra-deep mining will need fewer workers. ''We cannot carry on with shafts that have 6,000 people. If that's the case, then South African gold mining has a finite life,'' Diering said. He is confident the technology hurdles can be overcome without science fiction solutions, but the massive cost of building an ultra-deep mine may scare off investors. A five-km mine built from scratch could cost up to seven billion rand ($1.4 billion) and take 16 years before shareholders see a return. A cheaper option would be to use an existing mine, but that would still require billions of rand to develop. Ultimately, the gold price may have the final say on whether South Africa's mines break the five-km barrier. ''We're not on a mission to prove a technological point or get into the Guinness Book of World Records,'' said Diering. ''It will be about mining profitably and safely. If we can find gold in another part of the world at less risk, then maybe we'll go there,'' he said. ((Johannesburg newsroom, 27 11 482 1003, newsroom+reuters.co.za))