Category: uranium mining

The “Peace in Africa” in Port

The M/V Peace in Africa is an enormous mining vessel that mines alluvial diamonds off the coast of Namibia (and which used to mine off the coast of South Africa as well). The ship dredges up large amounts of diamond-bearing sediment, which is processed on the ship to concentrate the diamonds. The ship is owned and operated by De Beers.

The M/V Peace in Africa spends most of its time out at sea. However, when I was in Cape Town just over a week ago, I was lucky enough to catch sight of the M/V Peace in Africa in port. The M/V Peace in Africa is an extraordinary, very unique mining ship and is an impressive feat of engineering design and ship manufacture. I was excited to catch a glimpse of her, if only from a distance.

Here are a few pictures of the M/V Peace in Africa viewed from Signal Hill: 

Port from Signal Hill, Cape Town, South Africa, May 2011.
Label showing location of M/V Peace in Africa.
M/V Peace in Africa compared with a cruise ship (about the same size),
Cape Town, South Africa, May 2011.
Labels showing locations of cruise ship and M/V Peace in Africa.
A closer view of the M/V Peace in Africa in port, Cape Town,
South Africa, May 2011.
Even closer view- slightly blurry. I really must invest in a better camera
with a good zoom lens. Cape Town, South Africa, May 2011.

Here’s a better close-up picture of the M/V Peace in Africa (from the De Beers website):

M/V Peace in Africa.

If you want to learn more about the M/V Peace in Africa, I highly recommend watching the episode of the Discovery Channel’s “Mighty Ships” show about the M/V Peace in Africa.

Here are a couple of websites that have information about the M/V Peace in Africa:
The Art of Dredging
Ubergizmo

And here are a few more pictures taken from Signal Hill, which has spectacular views not only of the harbor but also of downtown Cape Town and Table Mountain:

View from Signal Hill showing the new stadium built for the 2010 World Cup.
Cape Town, South Africa, May 2011.
Downtown Cape Town, South Africa, May 2011.
View of Table Mountain and Lion’s Head from Signal Hill,
Cape Town, South Africa, May 2011.
Guineafowl visitors. These are found all over the city. Cape Town,
South Africa, May 2011.
Closer view of two guineafowl. Cape Town, South Africa, May 2011.
My gorgeous soon-to-be sister and I, with Table Mountain and downtown
Cape Town in the background. South Africa, May 2011.
My fiance (his eyes are closed, alas) and I, Cape Town, South Africa, May 2011.

Geology Word of the Week: U is for Uraninite

Botryoidal uraninite. Image taken from wikipedia commons here.

def. Uraninite:
A uranium-rich mineral with the formula UO2 (uranium oxide). Often, part of the uraninite is oxidized with the formula UO3. Uraninite is the primary ore for uranium and can also be mined for other elements such as radium, thorium, and lead, which are decay products of radioactive uranium. Uraninite deposits are generally a dark steel black with a slight metallic luster. The shape of uraninite is typically botryoidal (looks like a bunch of grapes) or amorphous, but rare cubic and octahedral crystals can form in certain environments. Uraninite often forms when hydrothermal circulation picks up uranium from a uranium-rich rock (such as granite or syenite) and concentrates this uranium in a hydrothermal ore deposit. The primary reason that uraninite is mined is to provide fuel for nuclear power plants.

Uranium can be found in almost all rocks. Uranium is found in at least trace quantities in rocks ranging from sedimentary limestones to granites to volcanic tephras. However, in most rocks the concentration of uranium is very, very low– parts per million or even parts per billion. That is, for every million atoms in the rock only one atom is uranium. Most rocks on Earth have ~1-2 parts per million uranium. Some uranium “enriched” rocks such as granite can contain as much as 50 parts per million uranium. Even though most rocks contain some uranium, it simply isn’t economical to mine uranium in most rocks since most rocks have very low concentrations of uranium. Instead, geologists must look for ore deposits in which uranium has been concentrated through a geological process, such as hydrothermal circulation. The uranium ore must then be processed and enriched before it can be used as nuclear fuel.

Uranium-rich ores are found and mined in many countries throughout the world Here is a nice pie chart from wikipedia (data taken from here):

Uranium mining by country. Taken from wikipedia commons here.

Here are some links if you want to learn more about uraninite and uranium mining:

Wikipedia:
Uraninite
Uranium Ore
Uranium Mining

Mineralogy of Uraninite:
Uraninite Mineral Data
The Mineral Uraninite

IAEA Website:
The Formation of Uranium Ore Deposits