Highlights

The School of Mining Engineering (Wits Mining) at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg/South Africa, has a long history of Mining Engineering education, being the oldest and largest on the African continent. Wits Mining has signed a Memorandum of Agreement with one of the largest gold mining companies in the world with a common commitment to education, research and ...

In fact, schools are not enviable – a large number of studies indicates a continuous criticism. The comments range i. e. from a poor performance in basic subjects such as mathematics to an inadequate preparation of school leavers for vocational training and suitability for STEM-subjects. Thus, this article follows a further examination of the school-based approach. The central question which is ...

In 2011 the Federal Republic of Germany decided that it would completely phase out nuclear power by the end of 2022. However, nuclear energy continues to be developed at international level and this means the ongoing generation of radioactive waste. While many different disposal and storage solutions have been implemented around the world to deal with low and intermediate-level radioactive ...

Currently, more than 30 countries throughout the world use nuclear energy to generate electricity. Almost all countries contemplate how to safely store and dispose of radioactive waste in the long term. Repositories for low- and intermediate-level waste of various designs have been in operation throughout the world for decades. In 2015, Finland was the first country, however, that obtained a ...

Final disposal site mining is mainly characterised by the transfer of the responsibility for the disposal to the Disposal Fund. But apart from that, the energy companies remain responsible – without any option of being released from liability. This continuing responsibility is laid down in the German Continuing Liability Act (Nachhaftungsgesetz). Is there also a continuing liability for the mining ...

Fluctuating commodity prices, high upfront investment costs, long development periods, the high variability due to the uniqueness of each deposit, and the imperfection and uncertainty of information about mineral reserves even after mining commences, have always been challenges for the mining industry. However, in addition to those inherent challenges, today’s new deposits have increasingly complex geological formations, are at greater ...

When a coalfield finally ceases production there will no longer be any operational requirement to continue with the mine pumping and dewatering operations. Switching off the pumps generally results in an increase in mine-water levels. This process can take place very quickly or may even last several years or decades. Rising mine-water levels are an ongoing event in many places, ...

Mining is not possible without consideration of the component water. This is coupled to a variety of questions. These include, e. g., dewatering in underground and open-cast/pit mining, the post-mining flooding of open-cast/pit residual holes, the remediation of acidic post-mining lakes, general management and treatment of such acid waters (Acid Mine Drainage – AMD) etc. In relation to the above-mentioned aspects, ...

In view of increasing import dependencies and decreasing ore grades in conventional mining, societies with large resource needs such as those of the EU are looking for new potential sources of mineral supplies. Seabed areas in international waters host considerable amounts of mineral resources that contain various elements, among them metals such as cobalt, copper, nickel and manganese that are ...

Mine closure is a topic that is being discussed frequently as illustrated by the closure ceremonies of the last two German deep coal mines in December 2018. Besides the commemoration of the miners, the main question is what is to be done with the underground infrastructure of the abandoned mines? The closure of a mine can be cost-intensive; backfilling of ...