• COUNTRY IN FOCUS
Image by Natanael Ginting | Freepik
REIGNITING MINING IN eSWATINI – LAND OF THE SWAZIS
The mining sector in eSwatini – ‘ land of the Swazis ’– has been idle for decades , but there appears to be a spark to reignite mining in the country , writes Dr Nicolaas C Steenkamp .
The small landlocked country – one of the last remaining monarchies in the world and in Africa – last attracted attention when its name was officially changed from Swaziland to eSwatini . Although the mining sector has been inactive for some time here , there has been increasing interest in a revival of some of the old mining operations of late .
eSwatini is landlocked within the Republic of South Africa and Mozambique on the eastern border , where the Lubombo Mountains lie and is divided into four climatic regions : the Highveld , Middleveld , Lowveld and Lubombo plateau . eSwatini ' s economy is very closely tied to that of South Africa , from which it receives over 90 % of its imports and to which it sends around 70 % of its exports – the main resource being that of sugarcane . The Lilangeni , eSwatini ' s currency , is pegged to the South African Rand .
The country suffers from a lack of developed infrastructure and reliable services to support industrial and mining operations . This , while the geology of the country is diverse , with some of the oldest rocks in the world . Being part of the Barberton Greenstone Belt in the west – rocks of Precambrian ( mostly Archean ) Age are dominant , while the eastern part is overlain by sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Karoo Age .
Historically eSwatini was a significant regional producer of asbestos , iron ore and gold . Very good quality cross-fibre chrysotile asbestos occurs in seams within a serpentinite sequence at Bulembu in the northwest of the country . The remnants of the cableway that transported asbestos from Swaziland to Barberton can still be seen along the Saddleback Pass between Barberton and the Oshoek border post .
Diamonds were located in the Ehlane area near the Dokolwayo kimberlite pipe , but no active mining has taken place since its closure in 2006 . Alluvial diamonds have spread southward in several stretches east of the Karoo Trough and are recovered on a small-scale .
Gold production began as early as 1882 but has since steadily declined with almost no current production . The gold mineralisation is associated with the same geological setting as the goldfields of Barberton . Among 25 known mines , including the Piggs Peak mine , Forbes Mine Reef , Daisy , Avalanche , Devil ' s Reef , She , Waterfall , Kabolondo and Wylesdale mines were the main producers . In 2017 studies were conducted on the potential of establishing and constructing a central gold beneficiation plant that would treat mined material and reprocess tailings materials from the old asbestos workings at Havelock Mine , this however never materialised . There have also been efforts in recent years to re-establish production at the Lomati mine .
Iron ore is currently not mined , but eSwatini has three to four deposits that may prove worthy of consideration . The Ngwenya iron ore mine in the west was the country ' s biggest mining
12 • African Mining • June 2023 www . africanmining . co . za