Recent Developments in Marine Diamond Mining     

Richard H. T. Garnett 《Marine Georesources & Geotechnology》2013,31(2):137-159

The marine diamond deposits of southern Africa owe their existence to fluvial transport down the Orange River to the South Atlantic. On the coast, they were moved, sorted and concentrated by high-energy sea and wind conditions to create a veneer of diamondiferous gravels on the sea floor. Large scale, offshore production by De Beers Marine commenced in 1989 in Namibian waters. The company now acts as a contractor for Namdeb, a corporation owned jointly with the Namibian governments. Some junior public companies also produce diamonds by large-scale mechanized means and conduct extensive exploration programs. Two important developments have occurred recently. Firstly, equipment for the recovery of diamonds from the seabed has been successfully borrowed from other industries. Large drills from onshore civil engineering have been modified for marine sampling and mining. Remotely controlled, seabed-mounted, excavational systems have assumed a major role. The new systems allow both evaluation sampling and subsequent mining to be undertaken by similar or the same equipment, making the results compatible. They permit highly selective extraction and enhanced recovery of the gravels from irregular bedrock in water approaching 200 m deep. But none is universally applicable offshore, each being the preferred system under different conditions. Secondly, the total output of sea diamonds from Namibian waters has increased to 0.8 million carats annually and now exceeds that from all the country's onshore sources. An industry has become established. Corporate and individual perseverence, government encouragement, new technology, shareholders' risk finance, and De Beers' diamond marketing have all played a role in the success. Future diamond production may increase as companies meet the challenge of working lower grade, higher volume deposits, which will require new approaches to the mining process. With a decrease in the physical risk of marine mining, the most variable inputs in operational planning and production forecasting are recovered grade and throughout rate, together with equipment availability. The importance of reliable grade estimation from sufficient sampling density is widely perceived, but the greatest performance risk can involve the predicted excavation rate and ''mineability'' of the seabed sediments. Published reserve statements would benefit from a requirement to specify the planned mining method, the consequent cutoff grade to be employed, and whether or not test mining has been undertaken.  相似文献   

Deep Seabed Mining: Past Failures and Future Prospects     

G. P. Glasby 《Marine Georesources & Geotechnology》2013,31(2):161-176

The first attempt to exploit deep-sea manganese nodules ended in failure as a result of the collapse of world metal prices, the onerous provisions imposed by the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the overoptimistic assumptions about the viability of nodule mining. Attention then focused on Co-rich manganese crusts from seamounts. Since the mid-1980s, a number of new players have committed themselves to long-term programs to establish the viability of mining deep-sea manganese nodules. These programs require heavy subsidy by the host governments. Au-rich submarine hydrothermal deposits located at convergent plate margins are now emerging as a more promising prospect for mining than deep-sea manganese deposits.  相似文献   

Environmental Impact Assessment of the Proposed Titanium Mining Project in Kwale District,Kenya     

J. O. Z. Abuodha 《Marine Georesources & Geotechnology》2013,31(3):199-207

This article addresses both environmental and socioeconomic issues concerned with the development or operation of the envisaged titanium mining project in Kwale District of Kenya. TIOMIN Resources Inc., of Canada, through its wholly owned Kenyan subsidiary, Kenya Titanium Minerals Ltd., is proposing to develop a titanium sands mine and mineral processing plants which will produce high grades of heavy minerals including rutile, ilmenite, and zircon. In addition, TIOMIN has proposed to develop a ship loading facility at Shimoni, a significant marine habitat in Kenya. When properly designed and implemented, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a powerful tool for ensuring that environmental issues are given due consideration during project design, allowing the benefits of the project to be maximized, while reducing the environmental and social costs of development. In Kenya, the EIA has to be conducted according to the requirements of the Kenya Environmental Management and Co-ordination Act (2000) and in compliance with World Bank standards. An EIA document submitted to the enforcement authority, National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA), enables the issuing of an Environmental Impact Assessment License and a Mining License. A number of exploration studies have been undertaken and several sites have been identified for the extraction of titanium minerals and zircon. Many have expressed concern that environmental matters should be considered before a decision about titanium mining is undertaken. Toxic chemicals used in heavy mineral separation processes and disturbance or redistribution of sediment could spell a disaster for the coastal waters. The Wasini channel is home to world class coral reefs, humpback and spotted dolphins, and marine turtles. Another contentious issue is that of radioactivity associated with the minerals zircon and monazite. The coastal zone is a crucial part of the economy, as it supplies a living for a large number of people along the coast. It is envisaged that involuntary resettlement without adequate compensation and viable alternative sites may result in serious socioeconomic consequences.  相似文献   

Mining shareholder value: Institutional shareholders,transnational corporations and the geography of gold mining     

《Geoforum》2017

The ownership and activism of institutional investors in large publicly traded gold mining companies have re-oriented business strategies toward maximising value for shareholders. This paper examines these strategies in the context of the commodity boom (and bust) of 2003–2015. A study of the activities of some of the largest gold mining companies reveals a re-alignment of their operations to satisfy the yield requirements, investment motives, and risk tolerance of institutional investors. By prying open the black-box of corporate decision-making, the expansion and subsequent contraction of mining activities are shown to have in part been enabled and constrained by the investment appetite of a particular class of investors. The findings make the case for a more situated analysis of corporations, a key but understudied actor in political ecology studies.  相似文献   

High accuracy measurements of water storage change in Mining Lake 111, Germany     

Bertram Boehrer  Stephanie Kastner  Gregor Ollesch 《Limnologica》2010,40(2):156-160

Several pressure sensors were deployed in a small lake to determine its storage change. It could be shown that a deep enough deployment and an averaging over a time interval of 1 hour and 5 measuring points allowed for a measurement of 1 or 2 kg/m² (i.e. 2 mm of water column) of changes in the storage on the scale of the lake size. This accuracy for the lake storage could not be achieved by other methods, especially if conditions were difficult, e.g. snowfall, or in cases when precipitation was small. Finally, the pressure measurement - originally intended to roughly determine the water level - turned out to be a direct measurement of water mass in the lake, which was the proper magnitude for exchanges between atmosphere and lake. Hence the measurement of lake storage could become an interesting approach even for meteorological measurements, such as precipitation and evaporation on a water surface.  相似文献   

Experimental estimation of velocities and anisotropy of a series of Swedish crystalline rocks and ores     

Alireza Malehmir  Magnus Andersson  Maxim Lebedev  Milovan Urosevic  Vassili Mikhaltsevitch 《Geophysical Prospecting》2013,61(1):153-167

To provide a guide for future deep (<1.5 km) seismic mineral exploration and to better understand the nature of reflections imaged by surface reflection seismic data in two mining camps and a carbonatite complex of Sweden, more than 50 rock and ore samples were collected and measured for their seismic velocities. The samples are geographically from the northern and central parts of Sweden, ranging from metallic ore deposits, meta‐volcanic and meta‐intrusive rocks to deformed and metamorphosed rocks. First, ultrasonic measurements of P‐ and S‐wave velocities at both atmospheric and elevated pressures, using 0.5 MHz P‐ and S‐wave transducers were conducted. The ultrasonic measurements suggest that most of the measured velocities show positive correlation with the density of the samples with an exception of a massive sulphide ore sample that shows significant low P‐ and S‐wave velocities. The low P‐ and S‐wave velocities are attributed to the mineral texture of the sample and partly lower pyrite content in comparison with a similar type sample obtained from Norway, which shows significantly higher P‐ and S‐wave velocities. Later, an iron ore sample from the central part of Sweden was measured using a low‐frequency (0.1–50 Hz) apparatus to provide comparison with the ultrasonic velocity measurements. The low‐frequency measurements indicate that the iron ore sample has minimal dispersion and attenuation. The iron ore sample shows the highest acoustic impedance among our samples suggesting that these deposits are favourable targets for seismic methods. This is further demonstrated by a real seismic section acquired over an iron ore mine in the central part of Sweden. Finally, a laser‐interferometer device was used to analyse elastic anisotropy of five rock samples taken from a major deformation zone in order to provide insights into the nature of reflections observed from the deformation zone. Up to 10% velocity‐anisotropy is estimated and demonstrated to be present for the samples taken from the deformation zone using the laser‐interferometery measurements. However, the origin of the reflections from the major deformation zone is attributed to a combination of anisotropy and amphibolite lenses within the deformation zone.  相似文献   

基于移动GIS的土地执法动态巡查系统建设     

贾培哲  赵俊三  江新飞  程婷婷  袁磊  贾培浩 《测绘软科学研究》2013,(6):58-61

目前土地执法巡查工作存在着作业方式落后、信息化程度低、巡查效率低和巡查人员不易监督的问题。针对这些问题,通过分析土地执法巡查的业务需求和移动GIS技术的特点提出构建基于移动GIS的土地执法动态巡查系统,在此基础上完成系统总体架构设计和功能设计,分析系统实现的移动GIS技术、数据库引擎技术、Web Services技术和基于时间维的GIS管理技术,重点阐述移动GIS技术在系统中的应用,最后完成系统开发。系统的使用改善了执法巡查现状,提高了巡查效率。  相似文献   

东川汤丹铜矿矿权实地核查数据检查方法     

廖志坚  杨艳  杨静远  杨舒然  周海 《云南地质》2012,(2):259-262

对东川区汤丹铜矿矿业权实地核查中,单矿业权成果数据容易出现的问题进行分析研究,总结出矿业权实地核查单矿权数据检查的方法与重点。  相似文献   

基于BJ -1小卫星遥感数据的矿区土地覆盖变化检测   总被引：3，自引：1，他引：2  

陈宇  杜培军  唐伟成  柳思聪 《国土资源遥感》2011,(3):146-150

为了评价利用北京一号小卫星(BJ-I)遥感数据监测煤矿区土地利用/地表覆盖变化的效果,针对其数据特点,选择基于图像信息运算和图像信息变换的直接变化检洲法以及分类后比较法,对徐州东矿区2007～2008年土地利用/地表覆盖变化情况进行检测,以对比、评价各种方法在土地利用/地表覆盖变化检测中的应用效果和BJ -1数据的适用...  相似文献   

海量矿业权核查成果数据存储与访问的优化技术研究     

陈苗  陈维斌  洪欣 《国土资源信息化》2011,(4)

针对矿业权核查单矿权成果数据具有文件小、数量多、异构、多源等特点,为了有效地存储这些数据到Oracle数据库中,实现快速提取及显示,并能够将一个矿业权的提取时长控制在1秒以内,本文给出了从建立数据库实体到查询、显示过程所涉及诸多问题的一个完整的优化方案。首先建立了一个完整的、科学的数据存储模型,并采用范围-列表分区模式对大型表进行分区,同时采用通过调整Oracle系统高速缓冲区、减少表连接、优化SQL查询语句、在客户端分页显示查询结果等优化方案,有效提升表中数据的查询速度,以达到优化目的。  相似文献