Case Study 4: Fluorite

Rust de Winter

The Vergenoeg/Nokeng open-pit fluorite mine is the only one in South Africa. Even though it is located on the largest fluorite deposit on earth, it is devoid of any large, aesthetic fluorite crystals. The mine takes up 3.4 percent of the annual world fluorspar production and is expected to exist for another three hundred years until depletion. Mining activities cause particle pollution and on top of that, water pollution forms a risk for the agricultural fields located in the north.