Harmony Gold Mine in Virginia

The Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup finishes off this weekend with a parade in Virginia in the Free State. Harmony Academy won the event and are going to get R 1 000 000 to use on legacy projects. Harmony Academy is well known in South Africa for their soccer history but the area is also known for its Gold mining producing one of the world’s richest gold mining regions.

The town’s name comes from 2 railway surveyors from Virginia in the United States who in 1890 etched their names and birthplace on a boulder near the farm Merrispruit. When the railway siding was established the name was adopted. The next significant date was in 1955 when gold was found on the banks of the Sand River.

It is significant to know that, during the apartheid era, black people were not allowed to live in the town and had to commute from Meloding. This is quite fascinating since Harmony Academy is a predominantly black school and they have uplifted the area due to their soccer skills. Another interesting fact is that the town exists due to the various gold mines that are in the area and they have been built on the blood and sweat of their black workers.

Naturally the kids that will be involved in the parade will not be thinking about the history of the area when they drive through on their open bus. They are the future of the area and they will just be thinking about the future that they are about to create for themselves.

About the mine

The Harmony Free State Operations are located on the south-western corner of the Witwatersrand Basin, between the towns of Allanridge, Welkom, Theunissen and Virginia. The basin, situated on the Kaapvaal Craton, has been filled by a 6-kilometre thick succession of sedimentary rocks, which extends laterally for hundreds of kilometers.

The Free State goldfield is divided into two sections, cut by the north-south De Bron Fault. This major structure has a vertical displacement of about 1 500m in the region of Bambanani, as well as a lateral shift of 4km. This lateral shift can allow a reconstruction of the orebodies of Unisel to the west of the De Bron and Merriespruit to the east. A number of other major faults (Stuirmanspan, Dagbreek, Arrarat and Eureka) lie parallel to the De Bron Fault.

The western margin area is bound by synclines and reverse thrust faults and is structurally complex. Towards the south and east, reefs sub-crop against overlying strata, eventually cutting out against the Karoo to the east of the lease area.

Mining that has taken place is mostly deep-level underground mining, exploiting the narrow, generally shallow dipping tabular reefs.

The Basal Reef is the most common reef and is mined at nearly all the shafts. It varies from a single pebble lag to channels of more than 2m in thickness. It is commonly overlain by shale, which gets thicker further North.

The second major reef is the Leader Reef, located 15-20m above the Basal Reef. This is mostly mined by the shafts in the South. The reef consists of multiple conglomerate units, separated by thin quartzitic zones, often getting up to 4 m thick.

Preparing for the Naukluft 8 Day Hiking Trail

Tomorrow, after voting in our municipal elections, we are going to Namibia to hike the Naukluft 8 day hiking trail in the Namib Naukluft Park. This is not a hike for the weak.

Originally we were meant to hike the famous Fish River Canyon hike in the second largest canyon in the world but due to floods in Northern Namibia the hike was closed until the end of May so we had to make another plan. We decided to do the Naukluft instead.

What they actually meant is that we had to increase our hike by 3 days but we were not allowed to take additional leave so that has left us with very little time to travel there, do the hike and travel back home. Actually we have 1 day to get there, 1 night to sleep, 8 days and 7 nights on the trail, 1 nights rest and a day to get back home. Not that much time at all especially considering that we have to drive 1800 km each way or 20 hours each way. It is going to be a rushed hike.

I have teamed up with one of the other hikers so we are sharing food and cooking gear. That will make out back packs much lighter. We are also lucky that in each of the camps there is drinkable water. I have taken purification drops just in case but we should be OK without them. For a change, during the hike we should find running water. Other than that we are on our own.

Apparently I have been given a role as a type of leader in the hike. I am the only one with the trail on my GPS and I am the only one that has some kind of understanding of the router that we will have to take. Considering that this is my role I have failed the team even before leaving for the hike. I have been worked to the bone in the office just so I could do the hike so I have not been able to get proper topographical maps or at least a profile of the route. It’s not the end of the world since my GPS has got topographical maps in it but still I should have done more for the hike.

Another contribution that I have made for the team is to let 4 of us use my car. I have just bought the Toyota Fortuner 4x4 4L 6V petrol and it is going to be given a test run. Good luck car. We are going to take turns driving so the 20 hour drive will not be all that taxing on anyone.

There is something that I would love to do on my way home. Sossusvlei, one of the world’s top destinations and the largest desert of Petrified dunes in the world, is in flood. This does not happen often and people are travelling from all over the world just to see it. I cannot miss this opportunity. I hope that my car mates do not mutiny and take my car away from me because they are missing their loved ones. I hope that they are as amazed as I am about this event.

About the hike:

The Naukluft Hiking Trail is in the South of Namibia in the easternmost horn of the Namib Naukluft Park. The hike is an eight day hike and it covers about 20KM of rough terrain. The hike is not flat at all going from 1250m until 1950 there are points on the hike where chains are used to help the hikers climb cliff faces and waterfalls. I am expecting the nights to be very cold (6 degrees Celsius) and the days to be warm (30 degrees Celsius).

Due to the terrain it is not recommended for unfit hikers. I had to have a medical evaluation before even leaving Johannesburg for the hike which I have to submit to the nature conservator at the start of the hike.

One of my goals is to get to the 4 day shelter where there are lockers where we can leave food for the last 4 days. I am not sure if we will make it in time. It is a huge risk for the whole team.

There are water pumps at all the camps where you have to manually pump your day’s drinking water. It is recommended that you take at least 2L of drinking water a day and still control your usage. Camel packs that can fit into a back pack are a huge advantage together with 2 x 1L squeeze bottles.

There are loads of animals around but it is not recommended that you take a large pair of binoculars with you; due to the terrain you will mainly be able to see the animals from close up. According to one of the website you will be able to see Steenbok, Springbok, Oryx, Kudu, Mountain Zebra, Dassie Rat, Chacma Baboon, Rock Dassie, Klipspringer, Hartmann's mountain zebra and over 200 bird species. We have to be very wary of Snakes and scorpions and my doctor told me to spray tick repellent because of tick bite fever.

Detailed itinerary taken from Trails for Africa

Day 1: Naukluft campsite - Putte shelter (14km) Starting at the main Campsite, you climb two fairly steep ascents of 200m each. There are magnificent views of the valley below and endless desert hills beyond. There may be water about half way depending on the time of year. The Putte overnight shelter is reached after a strenuous 6 hours. If you are carrying food for the full 8 day trail then get an early start so you can take it real slow for the sake of your feet.

Day 2: Putte shelter - Ubisis shelter (15km) you descend into Ubusis kloof the first of many impressive dry or almost dry canyons. Chains have been anchored in the rock where necessary and extreme caution is advised when negotiating them. There is water in the kloof. At the end of a six-hour hike you reach the Ubusis hut which is an old farm cottage. There are flush toilets and a cold shower.

Day 3: Ubisis shelter - Alderhorst shelter (12km) after backtracking to 'Bergpos' windmill, the day's hike is a comfortable stroll across the plateau. Take care to fill you water bottles before leaving kloof as this is the last water for the day. The chances of spotting Kudu and Zebra are very good. Four to six hours hiking brings you to the Adlerhorst shelter. The time taken depends on how quickly you negotiate the chains. Going up is easier than going down.

Day 4: Adlerhorst shelter - Tsams Ost shelter (17km) you travel through the Tsams River gorge with one very steep ascent to bypass a waterfall. A number of beautiful springs greet you shortly before the Tsams Ost shelter. You should manage this day's hike in six to seven hours. This is where you pick up your food parcel if you left one. Tsam Ost is a good exit point if you are not feeling up to the next 4 days which are tougher (you will need to arrange for someone to collect you before hand as there are no park personnel at Tsam Ost).

Day 5: Tsams Ost shelter - Die Valle shelter (17 km) You start with an initial steep ascent up 'Broekskeur' after which the trail meanders through patches of euphorbias and quiver-trees. There is no water on this day as the "fontein pomp" is no longer in operation (despite the map indicating water there). The day should take six to seven hours.

Day 6: Die Valle shelter - Tufa shelter (16 km) you start by climbing steeply to the top of the 'Die Valle' waterfall which is some 200m high. Although normally dry, it is still a magnificent sight. There are magnificent pools above the waterfall and these are one of the few places you can actually have a decent swim. A total of six hours hiking gets you to the Tufa shelter for the night.

Day 7: Tufa shelter - Kapokvlakte shelter (14 km)Another steep ascent up a well-vegetated kloof brings you to another dry waterfall which is scaled with the help of chains(the toughest of the trail). Today you reach 'Bakenkop', the highest point on the trail from where you look down at the Tsondap river valley 600m below. A five hour hike brings you to the Kapokvlakte shelter. There is no water on this day.

Day 8: Kapokvlakte shelter - Naukluft campsite (16 km) the final day should take about five hours hiking, finally arriving at crystal clear pools about 40 minutes away from the end. The only other pool where a swim is possible. This also forms part of the Olive tree day trail, and returns you to the campsite where you started.

  

Five Assagai Hike Machadodorp South Africa

Five Assegai Hike

This weekend I am going to join 25 other friends and do some of the 5 Assagais hiking trail. Last year the guys did the 2 day backpack hike and really enjoyed it. The weather was cold and miserable but it did not stop them from having fun . This year we have chosen the base camp option but it looks as if the weather will be the same.




The trail is a moderately difficult trail so with a minimum amount of fitness most of us will be able to enjoy the trail and not suffer the consequences. There are some non hiking people in our group and they have already said that they refuse to hike so they will stay at the base camp and do whatever lazy people do.



There is no need to bring hiking boots for the trail is very easy. It is recommended to bring a costume because there are a couple of streams with plunge pools that are deep enough to swim in. Since we are hiking from a base camp we need to take picnic food for the hike and since there is a refrigerator in the camp we cam bring perishables. In the evenings we are going to eat together. We have to bring our own meat if we want meat and then we have been divided into groups of 5-6 people where we bring a vegetable or starch.



The general plan is to get there on Friday night and hopefully the people that managed to get there early managed to get a fire going so we can start to cook. On Saturday we would like to do an hour or so walk until we get to a pool where we can swim and play around. I have bought a bottle of wine to drink whilst at the pool. Those people that feel energetic can continue to hike. I am going to do a geocache called Old Mac. In the evening we are going to have a friends Christmas party where we will give out gifts. We were told to buy a unisex gift for R30 ($3.50). I managed to find something fun and something practical and I went for the practical gift. On Sunday we will get up, have breakfast and leave for home in the late morning or early afternoon.



I will have a lot of pictures of the area to put on the blog when I get back.



The GPS Coordinates for the Lodge are S25 48.985 E30 22.291



Maps of some of the trails in the area.

Photos of Jupiter

My first attempts of astrophotography really didn’t work out as planned. In the past I have taken photos of the moon but never with a telescope and I have never tried to take a photo of any of the other planets.




I wanted to see how much photography I could do with a simple digital camera, a carton toilet roll to hold it in place and a very simple video camera. It was quite fun setting everything up, finding Jupiter, aligning my telescope and then trying to film Jupiter and take pictures of the giant.



My telescope is a simple Celestron SLX 130, which is a dream starter telescope that is very easy to use. I still believe that it was one of the best purchases that I have ever made. I have a Fujifilm Finepix S5600 camera that has taken fantastic photographs over the last 7-8 years that I have owned it but has never taken a picture of a planet so is just as inexperienced as me. The final devise is my Canon MV750i digital video camera. I also tried to use my helmet came because it fitted better into my make shift camera holder but all it took was Jupiter and I could not see the moons.



My original plan was to take pictures of Jupiter for the week leading up to the 19th and for a week after the 19th so that I could see how Jupiter moves into its stationary position and then out retrograde motion. I know the theory behind retrograde motion but I have never tried to photograph it. The plan did not work due to the cloud cover all week until Sunday the 21st. On the 21st I was so excited to test out my equipment that I took the photos even thought the even that I wanted to follow had passed.



The first thing that I did once I had setup my telescope was look for Jupiter which was very easy since it is so bright and very hard to miss. Then I aligned the telescope and spent a good 30min to hour just staring at the amazing planet. I could see the 4 Galilean satellites clearly with Io on the one side of Jupiter and Ganymede, Europa and Callisto on the other. I didn’t waste too much time with my helmet cam because I don’t have an LCD attached to it so I could not see if I was filming anything. Once I had finished with my helmet cam I took my Canon Video camera out and tried to film Jupiter. It was not easy, I tried with my 25mm lens and then the 5mm lens and I really struggled to track Jupiter but I did take some clips which are attached. I had better success with my Fujifilm Digital Camera where most of the pictures came out well enough to see Jupiter and the four Galilean moons. The pictures were slightly blurred and you could see that my telescope was vibrating when I pressed the shutter button.



I have placed the various photos on this blog and I have also added photos where I inverted the Black and white colours. The inverted photos show a lot more detail of what I took. Unfortunately my photos do not show the great red spot and the atmospheric bands that I could see when I looked through the telescope. I have to learn how to create longer exposures with my camera to see if I can get any more detail and I have to get a couple of filters to see how they change my photos. Next time I get a clear sky I will take photos of the moon and see how those photos come out.

Torrid Taurids

The weekends Taurid meteor shower display did not work out exactly the way I had planned. As mentioned in my previous blog the weather predictions were not that great. The weather predictions were spot on for the weekend and the bad sky viewing has continued through out the week. On Sunday I got excited because the weather was good during the day but starting clouding over in the late afternoon.




I got my hopes up on Friday when I got home and the sky was clear. I got my telescope (Celestron 130SLT) and my binoculars ready for action. I also took out my video camera and my digital camera just in case I wanted to take pictures. I have not used my digital camera to take pictures of astronomical events for a long time and the only pictures I have take in the past are of the moon and its phases and a couple of constellations.



I did not get to see any meteors on the short period that I had clear skies on the Friday, I don’t know if it was bad luck of the light pollution in my area but I was a little disappointed to miss out on the meteor shower. Even thought I was there to look for meteors I used my time constructively by looking at the Pleiades, the various stars in the Taurus and Orion constellations and I had a good look at the Orion nebula.



My photography didn’t turn out that well in the sense that I don’t have pictures to post on the blog but it was good for I managed to test out various things like my home made adapter for my telescope. I still need to make a couple of changes to the adapter and I cannot use my digital camera to take the photos because it is too heavy for my little telescope but I can use my webcam and my helmet cam. My other video camera didn’t help at all for what I wanted to do.



There are a lot more interesting astronomical events that I would like to see before the end of the month but the weather looks like it will be overcast for the rest of the month. It is hard to believe that a month ago I was telling people that we need rain and now I wish that I could get a clear sky so I can see certain astronomical events.

Friday's Northern Taurid Meteor Shower

I have not been to one of my local astronomy club meetings in quite a while so I thought that since there in one tonight I would catch up with what is happening in the world of astronomy. The first thing that I did was look at events that are going to occur in the near future and I was surprised to see that I was about to miss the Taurid meteor shower. I love meteor shower and I hate missing out on them.




Because of our location and the time of the year we are about to observe the Northern Taurids. The frequency of the shower should be anything from about 5 to 8 meteors coming from the constellation of Taurus - hence it's name. The showers will start on Friday and end on Sunday morning with some stray meteors that might be seen in the weeks before and after the main stream. The content of the shower is actually larger than just dust and sometimes we can see bolides with spectacular light shows and if you are in a place that is quiet enough you can even hear them.



The Taurids are said to be part of a large comet that came close to earth sometime in the last 30 000 years and that has slowly broken up into the debris that we see and the comet Encke. Currently most people say that the cause of the shower is the comet Encke and they are not wrong but there was a larger source as previously mentioned.



There is actually much more to the shower than I have mentioned. Due to the break up, over a long period of time, of the original comet it has caused a very large stream of matter which is considered the largest in the inner solar system. It is so large that the Earth takes a couple of weeks to pass through it causing an extended period of meteor activity.



Due to the trajectory of the original comet and gravitational effects of the planets the Taurids have spread over time creating what we call the Northern and Southern Taurids. We have also got the Beta Taurids that occur in June/July that fall part of the mentioned band of matter.



The Taurids have peaks every 300 years but there are smaller peaks that occur every once in a while that cannot be predicted. So every time you go out to see a shower you don’t really know how spectacular the shower is really going to be.



I have looked at the planned weather for the 3 days of the showers and it does not look good for me. The weather forecast is for rain from Friday evening until sometime next week. If I am lucky, this cold front will only hit in the early hours of Saturday morning so at least I will have Friday to watch the showers.