6 HISTORY OF ASBESTOS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Transcription

1 6 HISTORY OF ASBESTOS IN SOUTH AFRICA 6.1 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT In the early y ears of the 20th century, asbestos deposits w ere found in South Africa and what is now Zimbabwe 62. Asbestos mining in South Africa began in earnest in the 1930s. In the following decades, it attracted a multitude of big and small companies, and ev en indiv iduals. In the early day s, mining and production methods w ere crude, w ith the fibre being separated from the ore by hand. In some cases the "mines" w ere spade-andw heelbarrow operations run by farmers w ho had found deposits on their land. Tw o international mining groups, the Sw iss Eternit Group, and the British-ow ned Cape Asbestos SA, and the South African-ow ned Griqualand Exploration and Finance Company (Gefco) w ere the major mining companies that w ere activ e in South African asbestos mining from the early 1940s to the late 1990s. Asbestos mining peaked in the late 1970s w hen Gefco had four activ e mines, Eternit four and Cape tw o. In 1979, Eternit sold its asbestos mines to Rand Consolidated Properties w ho in turn sold out to Gefco in At this stage, after a long series of mergers and acquisitions, the number of major producers had been reduced to tw o companies: Gefco and Msauli Asbestos. Gefco produced the amphiboles crocidolite and amosite - commonly know n as blue and brow n asbestos - in the North-Western Cape and in the North-Eastern Transv aal, while Msauli produced chry sotile, or white asbestos, in the former KaNgw ane homeland near Barberton. Ultimately, Gefco purchased Msauli, leav ing only one activ e asbestos mining company in South Africa. In 1988, Gefco disinv ested from asbestos mining and sold its remaining mines, including Msauli, to management, w ho formed a company called Hanov a Mining Holdings. As a result of declining international demand, South African asbestos mines began closing tow ards the end of the 1970s. The first mines to close w ere the brow n and blue asbestos mines in the early 1990s. The last w hite asbestos mines, Kaapsehoop (December 2001) and Msauli (September 2001), ceased mining operations in NATURAL OCCURRENCE OF ASBESTOS IN SOUTH AFRICA Asbestos deposits are found mainly in four regions of South Africa: the Northern Cape, the North-West Prov ince, the Northern Prov ince/limpopo and Mpumalanga 63. Table 11 identifies the ty pes of asbestos found in each of these regions. T ABLE 11: SOUTH AFRICAN ASBESTOS DEPOSITS REGION TYPE OF ASBESTOS DEPOSITS Nort hern Cape Griqualand W est Prieska Kuruman North-W est Province Nort hern Provinc e Chuniespoort Group Pietersburg District Letaba District S teelpoort River Penge M pumalanga Barberton Area Crocidolit e Crocidolit e Amosit e Ant hophyllit e Crocidolit e Tremolit e Chrysot ile 48

2 6.3 SOUTH AFRICAN ASBESTOS MINING Figure 4 depicts South Africa s asbestos mining production v olumes of all ty pes of asbestos for the tw elv e-y ear period from 1989 to 2000 period. FIGURE 4: SOUTH AFRICAN ASBESTOS MINING PRODUCTION '000 tons TOTAL PRODUCTION Amosite Production Linear (TOTAL PRODUCTION) Chrysotile Production Crocidolite Production This diagram indicates that there has been a dramatic decline in asbestos mine production in the past decade, dow n from 165,000 tons in 1989 to 18,800 tons in During this period, mining production of amosite and crocidolite stopped altogether, leav ing only the mining of chry sotile asbestos. Table 12 on the follow ing page reflects South African asbestos mining output from 1989 to The figures hav e been obtained from official statistics prov ided by the Department of Minerals and Energy 63. The Local Sales, Imports and Local Usage figures form 2001 and 2002 hav e been obtained directly from the local and Zimbabw ean mining operations. 49

3 T ABLE 12: S OUTH AFRICA ASBESTOS M INING OUTPUT ( 000 TONS) YEAR PRODUCTION LOCAL RSA SALES EXPORTS CHRYSOTILE AM OSITE CROCIDOLITE TOTAL CHRYSOTILE AM OSITE CROCIDOLITE TOTAL CHRYSOTILE AM OSITE CROCIDOLITE TOTAL TOTAL IM PORTS TOTAL LOCAL USAGE

4 Local S outh Af rican S ales of Asbestos Fibre Figure 5 reflects local South African sales of asbestos for the tw elv e-y ear period from 1989 to FIGURE 5: LOCAL SOUTH AFRICAN ASBESTOS SALES '1000 tons LOCAL SALES Chrysotile Consumption Amosite Consumption Crocidolite Consumption Linear (LOCAL SALES) During this period, local sales of raw asbestos fibres declined from 9,400 tons to 1,700 tons in Amosite and crocidolite disappeared from the local market in S outh Af rican Asbestos Fibre E xports Figure 6 reflects South Africa s asbestos export v olumes for the period from 1989 to FIGURE 6: SOUTH AFRICAN ASBESTOS FIBRE EXPORTS '1000 tons TOTAL EXPORTS South African asbestos exports hav e also declined significantly, in line with the decline in mining production.

5 S outh Af rican Asbestos Fibre Imports All of South Africa s raw asbestos fibre is imported from Zimbabwe SA imports approximately 4% of Zimbabw e s asbestos exports. South Africa s imports of raw asbestos fibres hav e declined from just ov er 10,000 tons in 1999 to just ov er 5,000 tons in Figure 7 reflects this trend. FIGURE 7: S OUTH AFRICAN ASBESTOS FIBRE IM PORTS '1000 tons TOTAL IMPORTS 6.4 THE CURRENT STATUS OF SOUTH AFRICAN ASBESTOS MINING Before the closure of Penge in 1992, South Africa s asbestos industry w as unique in that it mined all three principal v arieties of asbestos: amosite, chry sotile and crocidolite 64. Crocidolite w as first mined in South Africa in Chry sotile mining/production follow ed about a decade later, and amosite started in the early 1930s. Amosite mining/production stopped in 1992, w hile crocidolite mining stopped in Chry sotile mining ended with the closure of the Msauli Mine on the Swaziland border in Tw o smaller operations are still recov ering asbestos particles from mine dumps in Mpumalanga. Table 13 reflects the current status of asbestos mining in South Africa. T ABLE 13: THE CURRENT STATUS OF ASBESTOS MINING IN SOUTH AFRICAN TYPE OF ASBESTOS DEPOSITS M INING/PRODUCTION STATUS Croc idolit e S t opped in 1989 Croc idolit e S t opped in 1989 Amosit e S t opped in 1992 Ant hophyllit e S t opped in 1989 Croc idolit e S t opped in 1989 Chrysot ile S t opped in

6 Current Operat io ns Currently, there is a stockpile of chry sotile asbestos fibre at the Msauli mine near Barberton. Table 14 reflects sales figures for the January to August 2000 to period from this source. T ABLE 14: M SAULI 2002 SALES EXPORTS LOCAL RSA SALES VOLUM E (TONS) VALUE (US$) VOLUM E (TONS) VALUE (SAR) January , ,628 February , ,288 March , ,294 April , ,204 May , ,000 June , ,518 July , ,528 August , ,836 Table 15 reflects the remaining stockpile tonnage at this location as at the end of August 2002, along w ith an estimate of the number of months that it w ill take to sell off these remaining stocks, calculated at the av erage monthly sales for the first eight months of T ABLE 15: CHRYSOTILE ASBESTOS STOCKPILES LOCATION STOCKPILES (TONS) SELLING PERIOD M sauli 6, mont hs This calculation implies that Msauli will continue to sell asbestos until September E mplo yment Currently, there are three partners (all of whom are retired) and four staff members employ ed at Hanov a's head office. The Msauli mine in Barberton employ s 20 people who are working on closing down and rehabilitating the mine. At this stage, it is anticipated that these people will remain in Hanov a's employ until the end of June I nvest ment Hanov a's assets include R40 million cash, and approximately R15 million in mining equipment at Msauli. These assets are frozen, pending the outcome lawsuits brought against the company.. 53