Mponeng Gold Mine

Mponeng
Location
Mponeng
Location in South Africa
Province North West
Country South Africa
Coordinates 26°26′10″S 27°25′50″E / 26.43611°S 27.43056°E / -26.43611; 27.43056Coordinates: 26°26′10″S 27°25′50″E / 26.43611°S 27.43056°E / -26.43611; 27.43056
Owner
Company AngloGold Ashanti
Website AngloGold Ashanti website

Mponeng is a gold mine in South Africa's North West Province. It extends over 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) below the surface,[1] and is considered to be one of the most substantial gold mines in the world.[2] It is also currently the world's deepest mine.[3] The trip from the surface to the bottom of the mine takes over an hour.[1]

Over 5400 metric tonnes of rock are excavated from Mponeng each day.[1] At a cost of $19.4 per gram of gold extracted, the mine needs to recover only 10 grams of gold per ton excavated to remain profitable.[1] The mine contains at least two gold reefs, with the deepest one metre thick.[1]

The temperature of the rock reaches 66 °C (151 °F), and the mine pumps slurry ice underground to cool the tunnel air below 30 °C (86 °F).[1] A mixture of concrete, water, and rock is packed into excavated areas, which further acts as an insulator.[1] Tunnel walls are secured by flexible shotcrete reinforced with steel fibers, which is further held in place by diamond-mesh netting.[1]

The endemic bacterium Desulforudis audaxviator was discovered within groundwater samples.[4]

Danny Forster visited this mine to do an episode of Build It Bigger for season number three.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Wadhams, Nick (March 2011), "Gold Standards: How miners dig for riches in a 2-mile-deep furnace", Wired, vol. 19 no. 3, p. 42.
  2. "Mponeng, South Africa". Mining Technology. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  3. World's ten deepest mines
  4. Timmer, John (October 9, 2008). "In the deep, a community of one". Ars Technica. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
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