<P> Though uranium production in South Africa showed a decrease from 711t in 2000 to 579t in 2010, in 2011 930t were produced with a forecast of 2,000 t by 2020 . In 2016, Tasman Pacific Minerals, owned by Peninsula Energy started plans to open the first uranium ore mine, Tasman RSA . </P> <P> Conditions on most South African mines are very similar to those elsewhere except for the gold mines where the low geothermal gradient, i.e. the rate at which the temperature goes up with depth, is often as low as 9 ° C per kilometre depth (compared with a world average of about 25 ° C / km), and this, combined with narrow and very continuous orebodies in hard and competent rocks, makes it possible to mine to depths unattainable elsewhere in the world . </P> <P> Silica dust is an ever - present potential hazard so that all drilling dust and loose rock has to be wetted down at all times to prevent silicosis, a lethal disease that attacks the lungs . Unfortunately the narrowness of the inclined reefs / orebodies prevents mechanisation except in a very few cases and most work is very labour - intensive . Ventilation requirements to keep working conditions tolerable are huge and a survey of the South African gold mines indicated that the average quantity of ventilating air circulated was some 6 cubic metres per second (210 cu ft / s) per 1000 ton of rock mined per month . </P> <P> Another serious problem is that of heat . In the deeper mines refrigeration of the intake air is often necessary to keep conditions tolerable and this is now becoming necessary on some platinum mines which, although shallower, have a higher geothermal gradient . Refrigeration is very energy hungry and it is currently a moot point whether ESKOM, the state power company, can supply the necessary power after its recent problems, which will cut power supplies to 90% of previous levels until at least 2012, when a new powerstation is ready . </P>

The significance of mining to the development of south africa