Mining and Industry: notes

Mining

• Minerals: gold, chrome, platinum (Great Dyke), coal (Hwange), diamonds (Marange), lithium, nickel, asbestos.
• Methods: open cast (near the surface), underground (deep), alluvial (from river gravel).
• Benefits: jobs, exports, foreign money, roads and towns.
• Problems: pollution, land damage, danger to miners, minerals run out. Rehabilitation: fill pits and replant trees.

Industry

• Primary: gets raw materials (mining, farming). Secondary: makes goods (factories). Tertiary: services (banks, shops, transport).
• Location factors: raw materials, power, market, labour, transport, land, government policy.
• Processing: adding value, such as turning cotton into cloth or chrome into ferrochrome.
• Problems: old machines, power cuts, lack of money, small markets.