Previous empirical studies show that returns on gold mining equities are positive and statistically significantly related to changes in the price of gold. However, these studies fail to examine operational factors that may provide further explanatory power to gold mining equity returns. Examining quarterly gold mining equity returns, All-In Sustaining Cost and gold production results between 2013 and 2018, I find that there exists a positive and statistically significant relationship between changes in gold mining equity returns and the price of gold and a negative and statistically significant relationship between lagged changes in All-In Sustaining Cost and gold mining equity returns. My findings suggest that investors must be cognizant of cost metrics when seeking gold exposure through gold mining equities.

A sustainable global program to reduce mercury use in artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) will require the demonstration of credible, continuous progress to secure political support and financing, and ultimately achieve success. Focused progress measurement has been lacking to date for ASGM at the global level. This research analyses information on appropriate options to measure mercury reduction progress in ASGM. Research methods included a case study of Mongolia, supplemented with information analyzed from semi-structured interviews related to ASGM and other applicable evaluation approaches. The study concludes by proposing the development of a framework approach for measuring progress and by offering guiding principles and recommendations. Recommendations for the framework approach include: on-going and enhanced support to an information database; simplified evaluation metrics for the ASGM Partnership; tracking the level of political commitment of national governments as an indicator of progress; and promoting common reporting metrics across global programming.

Preface: For anyone standing on the ridge of the Witwatersrand on a spring day in September 1886 the sight immediately to the south represented a hive of activity and hope. Nearly a hundred years later ample evidence stretches away on both sides of the watershed to confirm the fulfilment of those early sentiments. It is, nevertheless, all too easy to ignore the struggles and failures which marked the beginnings of the world's greatest gold field in the light of its subsequent abundant success. Only when attention is turned to the individual companies formed to exploit the discovery does the true picture emerge of the lack of adequate technological and managerial knowledge amongst the early pioneers and of the financial frailty of their companies. The object of this thesis is to shed light on these beginnings by reviewing the histories of four of the earliest companies established to work the main reef. The approach adopted is to scrutinize the material available with a view to determining the motivations and actions of the managements of the various companies with regard to their economic environment, whether within or without the individual company. Clearly, the availability of information is a major determinant of the success of any such venture and this was particularly so in the case of the companies considered. With the exception of the Barlow Rand Limited holding of the H. Eckstein and Company Archives, which offers an integral coverage of that firm's dealings with the emerging industry, and which is certainly the most comprehensive source of information available to the researcher, little material relating to specific gold mining companies has survived. Under these circumstances it was necessary to rely heavily for information on the local press. These newspapers proved an invaluable source in this regard. As a mining camp with a limited capacity for generating newsworthy incidents, the newspapers of early Johannesburg found an eager readership for information about the industry which lay at the heart of the community. For their part, the managements of the various mining companies found in the pages of the local press an outlet for intelligence both true and false; the press was a useful vehicle for the publication of directors' and annual reports to meet a wider audience, but similarly it could be and was used to disseminate 'spectacular' reports calculated to influence the status of a company's stock on the local share market. As a research source the press has thus to be approached with caution but its value, if the warning is heeded, is in no way diminished. Beyond these two sources the next most valuable accumulation of data on the early industry is "The Gold Fields Collection" housed in the Cory Library for Historical Research at Rhodes University. As a collection it is far from complete and it is to be hoped that the donors will in future see fit to augment it with further material as this becomes available. It neverthess proved an invaluable source for the investigation of at least one of the companies of the study and for a general background to the industry.

The history of the gold mining industry and that of South Africa are closely linked and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. Despite declining production figures in the last decade, the gold mining industry remains a key contributor to economic development in the country. The legitimacy of the industry has been based almost entirely on the financial contribution to the fiscus and job creation. More recently, this legitimacy has been questioned by perceptions of shortcomings in the contribution to sustainable development. The purpose of the research was to gain an enhanced understanding into how the gold mining industry is respond to the challenges of sustainability in South Africa. Through a combination of qualitative interviews and secondary data review, the research had specific aims to: Establish the strategic stances of South African gold mining companies on sustainability Identify key drivers and impediments to implementing sustainability strategies into the day-to-day decision making; establish the maturity levels of the practices adopted by the companies; and establish an approach that can be used to assist South Africa’s gold mining companies embed sustainability in their strategies. By and large, the South African gold mining industry recognises its responsibilities towards society and the ecosystem. However, the focus seems to be more short-term and based on liability, cost and risk reduction. Additionally, there seems to be a gap between intent and actual performance. The Mining Charter and global sustainability frameworks are key drivers in the companies’ response to sustainability challenges.Leadership within the industry, the credibility and trust deficits, and the fragmented approach to sustainable development were identified as major impediments. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Masters of Art / In black societies, 'cattle were used for religious ceremonies and also for lobola, which was an important part of the economy. Lobola. was an exchange of cattle for a fruitful marriage. If the This volume is the first in wife proved infertile, her family would be obliged to give in marriage a second daughter. Lobola also enabled the bride's brothers in turn to afford the lobola for marriage and children themselves. Lobola circulated wealth and helped to build up the population and labour power of the family. A man's wealth and power were therefore measured by his cattle. Because of people's close ties to the land. in subsistence society, it was important to have enough labour to work it. More labour produced more food. This labour came from the family. Families in subsistence societies were large they usually consisted of the father, his wives and children, plus any unmarried relatives who might be needing a home. The members of the family worked together to produce their basic needs. They shared many of the daily tasks. At the same time, each member of the family had his or her own job. The women would usually grow the food and prepare it. They also raised the children. The older girls helped the adult women in their tasks. The men hunted and supervised the older boys, training them to look after the animals. In time, a man became the head of a family, with a duty to protect it in times of danger.

Environmental art: Art relating to the individual’s response, understanding and interest towards the land, including art forms such as Land/Earth art as well as more sensitive art forms such as Eco-art, focussed more on the earth’s natural processes. Exploitation: The exploitation of mineral resources is closely associated with progress and success, but also that of benefiting from something at the cost of something else, in this case exploiting gold at the cost of the ecology of the natural environment. Gold mining industry: The labour-intensive activity of removing gold from ore, mined from deep within the earth’s crust through a system of shafts and stopes. Installation art: Refers to what is contested as being a medium or process of art, whereby three-dimensional works are designed to influence the perception of a space, often site-specific, within an enclosed space or the outside environment, temporary or permanent. The found object or existing object is often used in installation art for its intellectual value. Inter-and-trans-disciplinary approach: The utilisation and collaboration of different disciplines as a means to find a solution to a (environmental) problem. Landscape: A cultural construct, referring not to physical topography, but to an aesthetically processed vision of the environment, mostly arranged and framed by an artist. Post-industrial environment: Referring to an environment, man-made or natural in a state preceded by industry. Often these environments are characterised as polluted and derelicts sites left behind by large mining industries. The gold-mining industry on the Witwatersrand, is characterised by massive tailings dumps and slimes dams. Resource curse: A term coined by artist Jeannette Unite, describing the phenomenon of extreme poverty co-existing with valuable minerals in the same region, especially prevalent in Africa. Technospasm: A term conceptualised by archeo-metallurgist Duncan Miller, as the unsustainable rate of non-renewable mineral resources extraction. South Africa is known to the world for its vast deposits of valuable minerals, of which gold has played a seminal role in the development of the country’s economy. What is left after more than 120 years of mining for this precious metal is a landscape, better described as a derelict post-industrial environment, characterised by pollution and impoverished communities. Environmental degradation caused by mining industries is not unique to the African continent, but is a worldwide phenomenon. Due to the rapid deterioration of environments caused by mining and industry, new environmentalist attitudes became prevalent by the 1970s in the West, seeking change in attitudes towards the land. Along with earth activists, artists also started to question humankind’s destructive relationship towards the land. Apart from the early developments of Land/Earth art during the 1960s, artists have taken on roles of activists, interventionists and collaborators of multi- and interdisciplinary projects since then, in order to remediate and re-cultivate post-industrial sites. Environmental artists find value in what art holistically contributes to society, as opposed to the commodity value of art. While artists in the West significantly progressed in environmentally orientated art, South African artists focused more on responding to the socio-economic conditions induced by the long-standing Apartheid era. Few South African artists have attempted to engage in environmentally-concerned art, especially related to the mining industry. However, Western attitudes towards the land can be derived from South Africa’s landscape depictions since its colonisation by Europeans up to contemporary versions of the South African landscape environment today. This study provides a historic overview of South Africa’s aesthetic relationship with the mining landscape, specifically of the post-industrial sites situated in the Witwatersrand. The aim is to determine the South African artists’ contribution towards developing an environmental awareness, and to call for more artists to take part in visual art forms concerning the disruption of the environment, caused by the mining industry. The study determines the relevance of art as a means to raise environmental issues and whether art may be utilised for post-industrial remediation projects. International examples of Reclamation art projects and its incorporation of science are investigated to find solutions towards contaminated post-industrial sites. These examples are compared to the work of a small number of South African artists who have attempted to engage in the post-industrial mining environment through Earthworks and science The researcher’s own work is discussed to raise awareness of the adverse effects of Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) caused by the gold-mining industry in the Witwatersrand. A body of installation art produced for this degree was displayed in a gallery space, which presented a platform for audience engagement. Through this body of work and through the examples discussed in this dissertation, the researcher urges South African artists to take up the task of moral responsibility towards the environment for the survival of future generations of life on earth. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Visual Arts / unrestricted

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / Based on the review of different research studies, we could assess that, due to their unique biological features, microbes, specifically bacteria, could be used to repair damaged soils with heavy metal and toxic compound contents. Furthermore, these microorganisms are metabolically capable to oxidize cyanide and its by-products to generate less-toxic compounds at the end of the process. This research proposal seeks to improve conventional mine closure designs, thus counteracting their negative short-term, medium-term, and long-term after-effects to the environment. The proposed technique as a solution, therefore, is microbial remediation, using pseudomonas fluorescens bacteria to oxidize this compound to non-toxic components. It will ensure operational continuity for the deposits and, in turn, the sustainability of the entire mining industry.

No description available.

Student Number : 9612464Y - MSc dissertation - School of Mining Engineering - Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / This study was conducted at the West Rand Region, part of South African-based AngloGold operations. The study assesses the impacts of gold mining on the water quality and the change in landuse resulting from the mining activities on the West Rand Region. This was achieved by collecting historical data relating to the tailings dams and both surface and groundwater qualities between 1998 and 2003. The landuse information was gathered from the topographic map of Carltonville and remotely sensed data in the form of aerial photographs, landsat data and ASTER images. The data was analysed in a GIS ILWIS. The sizes of the tailings dams have not changed significantly during the study period. The size of the plantation also shows a decreasing trend due to pollution from the tailings dams. The area surrounding the Anglo Gold mining operations is sparsely-vegetated due to both poor soils and the impacts of mining activities. The surface water quality is poor and this water has negative impacts on the environment following accidental discharges and has potential negative impacts from seepage through the unlined dams. The quality of the groundwater is generally good with the exceptions of BH 18, MBH 8, MBH 5 and MBH 3 whose pollution arises from North mine tailings dams and North boundary dam. MBH 5 shows an improvement in water quality over time. The potential generation of AMD from the tailings dams is inhibited by the neutral pH of the tailings. In order to improve the environment in the West Rand Region and to prevent further pollution, planting of indigenous trees to make up for shrinking plantation and lining of the dams be undertaken. Stricter maintenance and monitoring of both the sewage plants and the dams be implemented to avoid accidental discharges of poor quality water into the environment. A study to accurately quantify the groundwater pollution arising from both the tailings dams and other surface water bodies should be undertaken.

Desde o final dos anos 1980, o Suriname presencia um fluxo migratório, sem precedentes, de brasileiros em direção ao seu território. A corrida do ouro é o principal fator que vem atraindo levas de garimpeiros e redirecionando, também, toda a rede que o garimpo agrega. A mineração é uma atividade de grande importância econômica para o Suriname, já que sua economia é altamente dependente da extração aurífera, sendo majoritariamente desenvolvida de modo informal e, sobretudo, por brasileiros que vivem nesse país em situação irregular. Assim, nesta tese analisamos as mobilidades dos garimpeiros, no e para o Suriname, atreladas à mineração do ouro em pequena escala, levando em conta que tais dinâmicas estão imersas em variados contextos multiterritoriais, além de envolverem distintos agentes com interesses convergentes e/ou divergentes. A metodologia utilizada inclui pesquisa de campo nas principais cidades que fazem parte desses itinerários tanto no Brasil quanto nos demais países do Platô das Guianas , assim como nas áreas de garimpo situadas na floresta amazônica surinamesa, além de levantamento de bibliografia secundária, consulta de documentos oficiais em arquivos, bibliotecas e órgãos do governo e demais fontes de arquivamento. Juntamente com a contribuição da pesquisa empírica original sobre as implicações transnacionais da mineração do ouro na Bacia Amazônica, a presente tese propõe a exploração teórica das territorialidades emergentes e suas consequências em meio à multiterritorialidade, além dos respectivos processos territoriais implicados nela, a partir da interpretação dessas complexas mobilidades transgressoras. Desse modo, demonstramos que os garimpeiros estão inseridos em assimétricas relações de poder e variados quadros morais que envolvem, dentre outros, populações tradicionais, agentes do capital privado atrelados à mineração em média/grande escala e o Estado. A coexistência e a sobreposição dessas múltiplas lógicas territoriais influenciam decisivamente nas negociações, tensões e conflitos, redefinindo regras, interações e significados, tanto nos territórios da garimpagem quanto nos demais setores da mineração do ouro. / Since the late 1980s, Suriname has been experiencing an unprecedented flow of Brazilian immigrants into its territory. The gold rush has been the main factor attracting waves of garimpeiros and redirecting the entire network related to mining. Mining is of great economic importance for Suriname. The economy is highly dependent on gold extraction, which for the most part has been developed informally and primarily by irregular Brazilian immigrants. Therefore, in this thesis, we analyzed mobilities of garimpeiros associated with small-scale gold mining in and toward Suriname. We considered these dynamics as embedded within diverse multi-territorial contexts, involving particular agents with convergent and or divergent interests. The methodology applied in this study included field research in the main cities that form part of these itineraries. These cities are located in Brazil and other countries in the Guiana Shield, as well as in mining areas in the Surinamese Amazon forest. In addition, we conducted secondary research, which included consulting official documents in archives, libraries, government institutions, and other archival resources. In combination with the original empirical research concerning the transnational implications of gold mining in the Amazon basin, we aimed to theoretically explore emergent territorialities and their consequences in a multi-territory setting, as well as the respective territorial processes involved in it (starting from interpretations of complex transgressive mobilities). We thus demonstrated that garimpeiros are caught up in asymmetrical power relationships and diverse moral frameworks involving agents such as traditional populations, agents of private capital involved in medium- or large-scale mining initiatives, and the State. The coexistence and intersections of multiple territorial logics decisively influence negotiations, tensions, and conflicts. In addition, they redefine rules, interactions, and meanings in mining territories, as well as other areas related to gold mining.