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Gold Mining In Africa

Gold is considered to be a precious metal as it has some special characteristics which make it mostly wanted because it doesn't oxide, it's difficult to find, it's useful for jewellery and it also can be used for electronic circuits as it is a great energy conductor.

Africa is one of the top gold producers worldwide, having up to 50% of global production. Gold mining is concentrated in South Africa where this industry has met high developments due to its rich mineral land. The gold production is centred in the underground as well as open pits, in areas such as Ghana, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. There are also gold deposits in Witwatersrand making African gold industry one of the global leaders.

Although Africa's gold resources are very high, there are some issues regarding its gold extraction caused by the economical and political instability. There are several countries in Africa that have a great contribution to continent's gold mining industry. Ghana is the first African gold producer followed closely by Tanzania which has a gold mining production of 34 tones per year. In spite of the other countries` production decline, Zimbabwe's gold production had doubled up reaching 18 tones per year. Guinea `s production has expanded as well, now producing at least 10 tones per year. Among the African countries with a high production of gold, we can also find Mali with a present production of 41 tones of gold per year. Due to the continent's high stocks of gold resources, there are many companies like Anglogold and Randgold Resources which tend to overwhelm the market, exploiting most of the raw material.

The future of the African economy highly depends on how much the gold productivity increases. The production costs are continuously being raised due to the hard conditions that workers have to face, since the mines reach depths up to 3.8 kilometres, making it difficult to extract gold from. Another impediment is the temperature as it goes higher with 9 degrees per every kilometre. The mines are also narrow which makes it almost impossible to work using mechanised equipment. The heat and the poor ventilation of the African mines make it even harder for the workers to produce gold rapidly. Thus accidents are very frequent in African mines due to the ground falls which have killed many miners who have been trapped under the ground even with the use of safety belts.

The African gold mining industry is progressively growing as this continent is one of the main world's producers. Companies like Anglo American, De Beers, Gencor, Billiton, Goldfields, JCI, Anglovaal and Rand Mines control the chrome, platinum, gold, coal and base metal production throughout the continent supplying many clients from all over the world.

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