South African Business 2017 edition

A REGIONAL OVERVIEW OF THE
NORTH WEST
North West is on the Botswana border
and fringed by the Kalahari desert in the
west, Gauteng province to the east and
the Free State to the south. It is known as
the Platinum Province for the wealth of the metal it
has underground.
The capital is Mahikeng (previously Mafeking), a
town that achieved a degree of fame for the famous
siege during the Anglo-Boer War.
South Africa's nuclear-research centre is located
at Pelindaba near Hartbeespoort Dam,
and is run by the South African Nuclear Energy
Corporation. The Nuclear Engineering Department
at North-West University is the only one of its kind
in the country and the National Department of
Science and Technology granted a chair in Nuclear
Engineering to NWU. Researchers are working
with Korean, US and Italian scientists on subjects
such as gas centrifuge uranium-enrichment
cascade models.
Bioethanol, biodiesel and methane gas from
waste and renewable resources are among the types
of biofuels being investigated.
As a major grain-producing area, North West
Province is well suited to supplying feed stock for
biofuel projects, but a new set of national government
guidelines has seen the emphasis in this
nascent industry shift towards finding fuel stock
from crops that are less likely to affect food security.
Key sectors
The Western Limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex
is a geological phenomenon astonishingly rich in
minerals. The North West lies directly over most of
this formation.
Gold and uranium are found along the border
of the province with the Gauteng and Free State
(Klerksdorp and Orkney). Diamonds are mined at
Christiana, Bloemhof and Lichtenburg. Lichtenburg
is also the centre of the cement industry. Chromite
is the other major mineral mined throughout the
province, and there are several ferrochrome smelters
and other processing plants.
Other minerals found in the North West include
fluorspar, vanadium, rhodium, uranium, copper,
limestone, slate, phosphate, manganese, coal
and nickel.
The province produces 64% of South Africa's
platinum, 46% of its dimension stone and granite,
32% of its chromite and 25% of its gold.
Mining contributes 23.3% to the North West
economy.
SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2017
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