The "Peace in Africa" in Port

The M/V Peace in Africa is an enormous mining vessel that mines alluvial diamonds off the coast of Namibia (and which used to mine off the coast of South Africa as well). The ship dredges up large amounts of diamond-bearing sediment, which is processed on the ship to concentrate the diamonds. The ship is owned and operated by De Beers.

The M/V Peace in Africa spends most of its time out at sea. However, when I was in Cape Town just over a week ago, I was lucky enough to catch sight of the M/V Peace in Africa in port. The M/V Peace in Africa is an extraordinary, very unique mining ship and is an impressive feat of engineering design and ship manufacture. I was excited to catch a glimpse of her, if only from a distance.

Here are a few pictures of the M/V Peace in Africa viewed from Signal Hill: 

Port from Signal Hill, Cape Town, South Africa, May 2011.

Label showing location of M/V Peace in Africa.

Geology Word of the Week: U is for Uraninite

Botryoidal uraninite. Image taken from wikipedia commons here.

def. Uraninite:
A uranium-rich mineral with the formula UO2 (uranium oxide). Often, part of the uraninite is oxidized with the formula UO3. Uraninite is the primary ore for uranium and can also be mined for other elements such as radium, thorium, and lead, which are decay products of radioactive uranium. Uraninite deposits are generally a dark steel black with a slight metallic luster. The shape of uraninite is typically botryoidal (looks like a bunch of grapes) or amorphous, but rare cubic and octahedral crystals can form in certain environments. Uraninite often forms when hydrothermal circulation picks up uranium from a uranium-rich rock (such as granite or syenite) and concentrates this uranium in a hydrothermal ore deposit. The primary reason that uraninite is mined is to provide fuel for nuclear power plants.