It’s been discovered on every continent on earth, it’s edible, our oceans contain nearly 20 million tonnes of it, and it’s perhaps the metal most infused with symbolism. Most people may associate gold with high-quality jewellery or wealth, but...
Battery metals is a fast-evolving sector in mining, with enormous potential for growth. An entire day was spent discussing the potential of the African battery metals market at February 2019’s Mining Indaba, in South Africa. But, despite growing interest...
Copper has been around for far more decades, lifetimes, and centuries than most of us can comprehend – ten and a half thousand years, by most estimates. Of course, it wasn’t copper in its recognisable reddish-golden form that naturally...
Whenever you lay eyes on a diamond, your first thought is unlikely to be how extremely useful it is, as a stone. But many of the gemstones found in Zambia and elsewhere on the continent have important functions in...
1. It is one of the world’s biggest producers of diamonds
In 2017, Sierra Leone produced nearly 450 000 carats of diamonds, making it the world’s eighth-biggest producer. Other minerals mined in Sierra Leone include gold, rutile, iron ore, and...
1. It’s the world’s second-largest diamond producer
Botswana is the world’s second-largest producer of diamonds, after Russia. The country is forecast to produce 22 million carats in 2017, which is more than a quarter of world production by value. Botswana...
Smelting is an extremely important part of the overall mining process, facilitating the extraction of all kinds of metals – including silver, and base metals like iron and copper – from their ores. But how much do you really...
You can see, and hear a mining operation from far away. Everything about them is monumental: from the vast tipper trucks and shovels of a surface mine, to the looming presence of a shaft head-gear that drops miners and...
Considering that the per carat value of coloured gemstones like emeralds and rubies is growing faster than diamond prices, it may finally be time to rewrite Marilyn Monroe’s 1950’s hit, “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend”. The growing popularity...
Lights, camera, action! Hollywood movies cover characters who work in many different industries, and believe it or not, mining is also one of them. Mining movies don’t always feature a lot of explosions, car chases or dragons, but they...
