Often ignored are the social and economic benefits of coal mining.  These benefits go far beyond the energy it provides and the products like steel and cement that are made from coal. Coal mining supports local communities and provides a big boost to regional and national economies.

The presence of coal mining supports economies in many ways. At the most basic level coal mining provides employment for local communities. In South Africa the coal industry totals more than 12% of the mining workforce – more than 65,000 workers – and it is estimated that more than US$1 billion in wages are paid to its workforce each year.

Even more importantly however, the impact that these jobs have is spread widely across communities at large. In South Africa it has been estimated that the impact of one employees’ salary in the mining industry on average feeds and clothes the equivalent of ten people, including children and the elderly.

Coal mining often occurs in rural and remote areas requiring significant infrastructure development, particularly the development of transportation links such as road and rail. Mining often brings increases in other infrastructure services such as electricity. Improved infrastructure due to mining activity can also support broader economic development within the region, supporting other industries and facilitating the development of social infrastructure.

Whether we realize it or not, electricity from coal powers the lives of millions of South Africans.  Domestic reserves of coal have provided the largest source of electricity that South African families and businesses have depended upon each and every day.  But many people don’t realize that.  Many of us take electricity for granted and give little thought to what is involved in providing a reliable, affordable supply of electricity to meet increasing consumer needs.  Maybe one reason we don’t give this more thought is because electricity from coal is so reliable.  Coal and other traditional energy resources provide steady power that is available on demand.  That’s a big difference between coal and renewable energy resources, particularly wind and solar.  These sources produce electricity only under certain weather conditions;
including steady, sustained wind speeds or enough direct sunlight.  If we’re going to meet our nation’s growing demand for electricity,
keep energy costs affordable and continue to make progress on reducing emissions and meeting more stringent environmental standards, we can’t afford to take things for granted.

Charcoal is carbon. Activated charcoal is charcoal that has been treated with oxygen to open up millions of tiny pores between the carbon atoms. The use of special manufacturing techniques results in highly porous charcoals that have surface areas of 300-2,000 square metres per gram. These so-called active, or activated, charcoals are widely used to adsorb odorous or coloured substances from gases or liquids.

The word adsorb is important here. When a material adsorbs something, it attaches to it by chemical attraction. The huge surface area of activated charcoal gives it countless bonding sites. When certain chemicals pass next to the carbon surface, they attach to the surface and are trapped.

Activated charcoal is good at trapping other carbon-based impurities (“organic” chemicals), as well as things like chlorine. Many other chemicals are not attracted to carbon at all — sodium, nitrates, etc. so they pass right through. This means that an activated charcoal filter will remove certain impurities while ignoring others. It also means that, once all of the bonding sites are filled, an activated charcoal filter stops working. At that point you must replace the filter.

With no end in sight and the continuation of unprotected strikes spreading across South Africa, the effect on domestic growth for the third quarter will be adverse and also affect the output in 2013.
Gross domestic product rose by an annualised rate of 2.7% during the third quarter and 3.2% in the second. But, depending on the duration and spread of the strikes, economists predict it could slow down to anywhere between 2% and 2.5%. Unrest in the mining sector affected growth in the previous two quarters which caused fluctuations.

An illegal strike at Impala Platinum during the first quarter caused growth in the sector to drop to minus 16.8%. Its recovery in the second quarter saw it bounce back to 31.2%, significantly boosting GDP.

It is almost certain that the ongoing strikes will have an even worse effect on GDP going forward. Two weeks ago, South African Reserve Bank governor Gill Marcus said the bank’s forecast had been revised down to 2.6% in 2012 and 3.4% in 2013, compared with previous forecasts of 2.7% and 3.8%.