Diamonds are almost completely useless but prized above all other gems. Historically they have attracted crimes of passion and awful cold-blooded efficiency, have bedazzled the greatest filmstars and the most opulent courts, and provided the incentive for adventure, destruction and greed on a monumental scale. No one company is more identified with diamonds than the South African based De Beers.

Until the collapse of the Iron Curtain they controlled the diamond market. After the collapse, they still controlled it – once they had bought up most of the diamonds emerging from the former Soviet Union. They are secretive, discreet and very, very powerful. A strike in Northern Canada could hardly seem to trouble them. Except that it prefigured a diamond rush in a territory over which they had no influence by prospectors they did not own. And the strike promised enormous riches.

Here is the true story of the strike that upset the diamond kings, and with it the history of the world’s most acclaimed diamonds, the process by which they are cut, fashioned, smuggled and stolen, the legends and superstitions that are attached to them, the characters who comprise the great diamond prospectors and, above all, of the shadowy hand of De Beers for whom diamonds are forever.

Extractivism has increasingly become the ground on which activists and scholars in Latin America frame the dynamics of ecological devastation, accumulation of wealth, and erosion of rights. These maladies are the direct consequences of long-standing extraction-oriented economies, and more recently from the expansion of the extractive frontier and the implementation of new technologies in the extraction of fossil fuels, mining, and agriculture. But the fields of sociology, political ecology, anthropology, and geography have largely ignored the role of art and cultural practices in studies of extractivism and post-extractivism. The field of art theory, on the other hand, has offered a number of texts that put forward insightful analyses of artwork addressing extraction, environmental devastation, and the climate crisis. However, an art theory perspective that does not engage firsthand and in depth with collective action remains limited and fails to provide an account of the role, processes, and politics of art in anti- and post-extractivist movements. Creating Worlds Otherwise examines the narratives that subaltern groups generate around extractivism, and how they develop, communicate, and mobilize these narratives through art and cultural practices. It reports on a six-year project on creative resistance to extractivism in Argentina and builds on long-term engagement working on environmental justice projects and campaigns in Argentina and the UK. It is an innovative contribution to the fields of Latin American studies, political ecology, cultural studies, and art theory, and addresses pressing questions regarding what post-extractivist worlds might look like as well as how such visions are put into practice.

This work on environmental planning focuses on open-cast mining. It addresses the issues around open-cast mining that are central to the context of social science debate: risk; the division of public and private; environmental protest and politics; and new social movements.

The development of naturally fractured reservoirs, especially shale gas and tight oil reservoirs, exploded in recent years due to advanced drilling and fracturing techniques. However, complex fracture geometries such as irregular fracture networks and non-planar fractures are often generated, especially in the presence of natural fractures. Accurate modelling of production from reservoirs with such geometries is challenging. Therefore, Embedded Discrete Fracture Modeling and Application in Reservoir Simulation demonstrates how production from reservoirs with complex fracture geometries can be modelled efficiently and effectively. This volume presents a conventional numerical model to handle simple and complex fractures using local grid refinement (LGR) and unstructured gridding. Moreover, it introduces an Embedded Discrete Fracture Model (EDFM) to efficiently deal with complex fractures by dividing the fractures into segments using matrix cell boundaries and creating non-neighboring connections (NNCs). A basic EDFM approach using Cartesian grids and advanced EDFM approach using Corner point and unstructured grids will be covered. Embedded Discrete Fracture Modeling and Application in Reservoir Simulation is an essential reference for anyone interested in performing reservoir simulation of conventional and unconventional fractured reservoirs.

Surveys developments from the establishment of the Apartheid state to 1982 when it was being challenged in the mines, factories and townships. After the Soweto Revolt, the government slowly began to compromise and by 1982 the conditions were present for the formation of a new union for black mineworkers. Key Features include studies of: Recruitment, harsh working conditions and work-related deaths and injuries, including a detailed account of the Coalbrook Colliery disaster in 1960 when 437 were killed. A wave of dissent by black students and industrial workers arose in the 1970s. The Guardian newspaper conducted a successful wages campaign for black workers. Black mineworkers joined the protesters in 1973-1976 when more than 200 of them were killed. These protests were followed by the Soweto uprising, by township violence and by a state response that was both oppressive and conciliatory

The Design and Construction of Pitched Roofing is the definitive guide to obtaining successful results in pitched roofing construction. Written by a team of experts from the NFRC and the RTA, the representative groups in industry for roofing construction. This guide is fully in line with the latest best site practice, innovations and British and European Standards, to ensure readers are receiving the most up-to-date and accurate information available in the field. Based on actual teaching practice, the book is highly illustrated throughout to increase accessibility of the text for the reader in its exploration of the practical aspects of roofing. It also includes an extensive glossary of roofing terms for ease of reference. This first edition contains material detailing recent innovations in roofing, in the areas of roof components and envelope performance requirements. It brings together a comprehensive collection of the design, materials specification, and workmanship requirements to construct a successful pitched roof. Including: Up to date design, product and workmanship standards Current best site practice Advances in Health and Safety Current typical scope of works for a Roofing Contractor Broad knowledge of the overall building envelope performance. Specifically, the increasing insulation and air tightness requirements. Students following Diploma (Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced level) and apprenticeship routes, will find this book to be an invaluable reference source of information which will accompany them throughout their studies. Building professionals concerned with the design, detailing and specification of roofing will also find this book to be an essential reference.

World Statistics on Mining and Utilities 2020 provides a unique biennial overview of the role of mining and utility activities in the world economy. This extensive resource from UNIDO provides detailed time series data on the level, structure and growth of international mining and utility activities by country and sector. Country level data is clearly presented on the number of establishments, employment and output of activities such as coal, iron ore and crude petroleum mining as well as the production and supply of electricity, natural gas and water.This unique and comprehensive source of information meets the growing demand of data users who require detailed and reliable statistical information on the primary industry and energy producing sectors. The publication provides internationally comparable data for economic researchers, development strategists and business communities who influence the policy of industrial development and its environmental sustainability.

Key Features: Describes feedstock evaluation and the effects of elemental, chemical and fractional composition. Details reactor types and bed types. Explores the process options and parameters involved. Assesses coke formation and additives. Considers next generation processes and developments.

The mining industry in North America is an important subject for archaeological investigation due to its rich and conflicted history. It is associated with the opening of the frontier and the rise of the United States as an industrial power but also with social upheaval, the dispossession of indigenous lands, and extensive environmental impacts. Synthesizing fifty years of research on American mining sites that date from colonial times to the present, Paul White provides an ideal overview of the field for both students and professionals. Case studies are taken from a wide range of contexts, from eastern coal mines to Alaskan gold fields, and special attention is paid to the domestic and working lives of miners. Exploring what material artifacts can tell us about the lives of people who left few records, White demonstrates how archaeologists contribute to understanding mining legacies.

Milan and Lombardy have played an important role in the Italian country since the Roman period. This importance is reflected also by the diffusion of stone architecture: a persisting trait of Milan architecture was the use of different stones in the same building. Milan lies in the middle of the alluvial plain of the Po, far from the stone quarries; some waterways were dug out in order to supply the building stones from the surrounding territories. The study of stone as building material was significant at the end of 19th century, but then it was largely neglected by both architects and geologists. So it is significant to suggest a study about the stones employed to build in Milan (Part One) in relationship with a petrographic study about the features of the stones quarried in the whole Lombard territory (Part Two). Part One contains a record of Milanese edifices, edifices marking the different historical periods. Each edifice is described in a "card" containing: the building history, the architect, the kind of stone employed and subdivided according to the different parts of the building, the shape of stone elements. Part Two contains the description of the features of the stones reported in the first part. They are metamorphic and magmatic rocks of the Alpine area; sedimentary rocks and loose materials of the Prealpine area; sedimentary rocks of the Apennine area; loose sediments of the Padania plain. Some stones, coming from other northern Italian regions, and used in Lombard architecture, are also described. Each stone is described in a "card" containing: commercial and historical names, petrographic classification, macroscopic features, mineralogical composition, microscopic features, geological setting, quarry sites, transport to yards, morphology of dressed elements and surface handworking, use in architecture in the whole Lombard territory and abroad, decay morphologies. A particular investigation is addressed to the stones used during the 20th century, a great part of them was never used before in Milan and in Lombardy.

This book provides the most comprehensive survey of mining activity and the principal challenges confronting the resources industry in the Asia-Pacific region today, and presents new theoretical and practical insights into the political and business risks faced by mining companies operating in the region from both academic and corporate perspectives. It focuses on the exploration, production and trade of the principal commodities coal, iron ore, uranium, oil and gas, and gold, as well as the emerging commodities unconventional gas and rare earth minerals, provides the reader with a valuable understanding of resource activity in the region. In addition, it also integrates and draws attention to eight key issue areas which have the potential to pose significant risks, challenges and opportunities for the industry going forward, which include sustainable development, resource governance and economic contributions, declining ore grades and territorial expansion, community aspects of mining, mining and indigenous peoples, climate change, and impact assessment. The contributors to this volume are experts in their respective fields, and the diversity of voices makes this book a must read for scholars, industry participants, investors and policy-makers with an interest in mining in the Asia-Pacific.

The future of mining in South Africa is hotly contested. Wide-ranging views from multiple quarters rarely seem to intersect, placing emphasis on different questions without engaging in holistic debate.

This book aims to catalyse change by gathering together fragmented views into unifying conversations. It highlights the importance of debating the future of mining in South Africa and for reaching consensus in other countries across the mineral-dependent globe.

It covers issues such as the potential of platinum to spur industrialisation, land and dispossession on the platinum belt, the roles of the state and capital in mineral development, mining in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the experiences of women in and affected by mining since the late 19th century and mine worker organising: history and lessons and how post-mine rehabilitation can be tackled.

It was inspired not only by an appreciation of South Africa’s extensive mineral endowments, but also by a realisation that, while the South African mining industry performs relatively well on many technical indicators, its management of broader social issues leaves much to be desired. It needs to be deliberated whether the mining industry can play as critical a role going forward as it did in the evolution of the country’s economy.

The mining sector is of major importance to the economy of Chile. Although dominated by copper - Chile is the world's leading producer - its production of potassium and sodium nitrate, gold, silver, rhenium, lithium iodine, molybdenum, boron and selenium, for example, is significant. Prominent representatives of the international minerals industry have contributed the papers that appear in Mining Latin America/Mineria Latinoamericana, the volume that lends its name to the conference organized by the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, in association with the Instituto de Ingenieros de Minas de Chile, the Sociedad Nacional de Mineria Chilena and Latinomineria being held in Santiago de Chile in May, 1994. This book should be of interest to mining engineers, geotechnical engineers, geologists, and mineralogists.

This study explores the regulation of occupational health in the British asbestos industry from the recognition in the late 1890s that asbestos dust might pose a health hazard until the establishment of the 1969 Asbestos regulations. Whereas almost all of those who have written on this subject have attacked the entire asbestos industry and all its works, The Way from Dusty Death takes a more balanced view. It accepts the history of asbestos and health as in many ways a human tragedy, but it rejects simplistic, universalised arguments that this has been a tragedy with a cast only of villains, dupes and victims. The historical account includes the emergence of medical, and then official, concern about the three diseases related to asbestos (asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma) the legislative process during and after the 1930s and the impact of the 1931 Asbestos Industry Regulations. The book brings together much previously unexamined material - including copious government records, combined with unimpeded access to the vast archive of documents kept by the leading British asbestos manufacturer, Turner and Newall - to present a unique analysis of occupational health and its regulation in the 20th Century.

Increased investment in the mining sector in Africa is often presented as a key strategy to leverage growth and development on the continent. It has been described as a "motor for growth," which will contribute to poverty reduction. Massive investment has taken place, but the results in crucial areas such as sustainable economic and social development have been extremely disappointing. These outcomes are most frequently attributed to dysfunctional internal governance processes, mismanagement and corruption. Much attention has been given in recent years to the issue of "the poor resource governance" in mineral rich countries. In this volume, academics, policy-makers and practitioners from Africa and beyond aim to achieve a better understanding of these issues by proposing a renewal of approaches. Discussing the cases of Ghana, Mali and the Democratic Republic of the Congo they explore new ways of thinking about issues concerning governance and revenue flows.

A well researched and intuitive study into the rise of a Yorkshire mining town, the effects of subsequent events and crucially, the responses of the community during the "Great Strike."

investigates the relationship between mining, mine closure and housing policy in post-apartheid South Africa argues that the dependencies created by the mining industry and mine housing policies while a mine is operational causes serious societal problems when it closes applies the concepts of place attachment, asset-based development and social disruption will be of interest to students and scholars researching the social impacts of mining and the extractive industries, social geography and sustainable development, as well as policymakers and practitioners working with mine closure or social impact assessments.

This manual explains the evolution of British coalmining from a technical and engineering standpoint from the 18th to the 20th century, the heyday of British mining. The book explains the history and technology both above and below ground, exploring the pit head surface machinery and the transportation networks that fed into it, and the personal kit and equipment of individual miners. It also looks at how successive generations of mining engineers have met the perennial challenges and dangers of mining: pressure from millions of tons of rock and earth above; water drainage; fire and gas explosions; roof and seam collapse; underground illumination; ventilation; disease and accidents.

This book covers virtually all of the engineering science and technological aspects of separating water from particulate solids in the mining industry. It starts with an introduction to the field of mineral processing and the importance of water in mineral concentrators. The consumption of water in the various stages of concentration is discussed, as is the necessity of recovering the majority of that water for recycling. The book presents the fundamentals under which processes of solid-liquid separation are studied, approaching mixtures of discrete finely divided solid particles in water as a basis for dealing with sedimentation in particulate systems. Suspensions, treated as continuous media, provide the basis of sedimentation, flows through porous media and filtration. The book also considers particle aggregations, and thickening is analyzed in depth. Lastly, two chapters cover the fundamentals and application of rheology and the transport of suspensions.

This work is suitable for researchers and professionals in laboratories and plants, and can also serve as additional readingfor graduate seminars on solid liquid separation as well as for advanced undergraduate and graduate level studentsfor courses of fluid mechanics, solid-liquid separation, thickening, filtration and transport of suspensions in tubes and channels.

Some vanguard companies have evolved to a higher level of decentralization originating in the enabling-and-autonomy paradigm. A new kind of deep leadership is practiced by these spirit-driven organizations. This book brings together theory and case studies to cover historical origins and developments of both types of decentralization.

Provides case studies, commentary and analysis on the mining sector from international experts in business, across the four key focus areas of strategic, operational, financial and disclosure perspectives on mining. Invaluable to executives, managers and advisers involved in the mining sector, including public and private mining companies.

This book takes a fresh approach to the puzzle of sub-Saharan Africa's resource curse. Moving beyond current scholarship's state-centric approach, it presents cutting-edge evidence gathered through interviews with mining company executives and industry representatives to demonstrate that firms are actively controlling the regulation of the gold mining sector. It shows how large mining firms with significant private authority in South Africa, Ghana and Tanzania are able to engender rules and regulations that are acknowledged by other actors, and in some cases even adopted by the state. In doing so, it establishes that firms are co-governing Africa's gold mining sector. By exploring the implications for resource-cursed states, this significant work argues that firm-led regulation can improve governance, but that many of these initiatives fail to address country/mine specific issues where there remains a role for the state in ensuring the benefits of mining flow to local communities. It will appeal to economists, political scientists, and policy-makers and practitioners working in the field of mining and extractives.