The Republic of South Africa is a metal producer of the first rank. Gold is the most important of the metals and up to the end of 1971, U.S.$ 32 billion had been realized from its sale. This figure was equivalent to 80% of the total value of all metals sold. The gold province is located on the Kaapvaal craton which is composed of Precambrian sedimentary-volcanic and granite-greenstone assemblages ranging in age from 1,750 to 3,500 million years. This craton forms the southern part of the Southern African Shield. No significant gold mineralization has yet been found beyond the boundaries of this shield. On the Kaapvaal craton, five Proterozoic sedimentary-volcanic basins lie on an Archean basement.  <...>

At a time when the DNA of Neanderthal Man has been sequenced and Jurassic World hints at possible future breakthroughs, however improbable, fossils have an undoubtedly high profile. Collecting fossils is a popular hobby. There is a wealth of helpful literature and websites which will help you to put an accurate name on your latest find, and to identify the various component parts of the skeleton.

Av the mining industry continues to grow, so too do its environmental impacts and the need for efficient reclamation methods.
The mining industry produces metals that are essential for global economic development. To do so, mining operations exploit ore deposits. For these ore bodies, both those exploited by open pits and underground mines, the proportion of the economic value compared to the whole excavated rock is very low. which implies that large quantities of solid wastes are produced annually, particularly waste rocks and mine tailings (Lottemioser 2007). Waste rocks are economically nonviable material excavated to reach ore-bearing rock. They are usually stored in waste rock piles at the surface. Tailings are ground rock particles resulting from ore processing.

The mechanical properties of minerals constitute a very little investigated field of study compared with other areas of mineral physics. The minerals for w hich all crystallomechanical parameters are known are few, and until now it has not been possible to state unequivocally whether one mechanical property alone could be adequately used in defining most minerals. For this reason, it is essential that the mechanical properties and deformations of minerals be investigated, treating mineral crystallomechanics as a section of mineralogy of importance equal to crystallo-optics and crystallochem-istry. for example. <...>