Security guard at South African mine killed by Elephant.

A security guard has died after being trampled by an Elephant at a mine in Limpopo State, South Africa, on Saturday 8 June 2019. Eric Kgatla. 45 was last seen in a guard house at the Foskor phosphate mine in Phalaborwa at about 4.00 am, by another guard who then went on to patrol a road at the site. The other guard returned to the site after hearing an Elephant, and witnessed one moving away from the structure, but was unable to find Kgatla. A search of the area found his body nearby, having apparently been trampled to death.

 'Guard Houses' used at the Fosker Mine. Letaba Herald.

The population of South Africa has risen from 18 million in 1960 to  57 million today, fuelling an expansion of both urban and agricultural land use into former wilderness areas. Many animals will simply flee such incursions, or, if unable to, are likely to end up in the cooking pots of hungry villagers. Elephants, however, are a somewhat different proposition. They are large animals, not used to being challenged by other animals in their home ranges, and typically live in matriarchal herds of up to a hundred, with herds holding large territories, criss-crossed by Elephant trails. A herd of Elephants encountering a new Human structure, particularly a poorly defended structure, are unlikely to attempt to go round it, and are quite likely to maximise the damage they cause to show their displeasure.

A herd of Elephants at the SanWild Wildlife and Rhino Sanctuary in Limpopo Province, South Africa. Louise Joubert.

Elephants are considered to be threatened across Africa, due to a combination of hunting, principally for the value of their tusks, and habitat loss, with the population across the continent thought to have dropped from 3-5 million in 1900 to about 415 000 today, and about 50% of Elephant-suitable land having disappeared since 1970. In South Africa the population trend has run the other way, with the population having fallen to a low of about 120 individuals in 1920, then risen to about 10 000 today through careful conservation management. However, while the country's extensive system of game reserves and national parks means that Elephants in South Africa face no immediate threat from habitat loss, the high black market value of Elephant ivory, combined with the high number of people living in poverty in the nation, means that Elephants are very much at risk from illegal hunting (poaching).

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Extracting Rare Earth Elements from phosphate deposits in the United States.

The Rare Earth Elements (Lanthanum, Cerium, Prasedymium, Neodymium, Samarium, Europium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Dysprosium, Holmium, Erbium, Thulium, Ytterbium, Lutetium and Yttrium) are of vital importance in many modern high-tec industries. Unfortunately, as their name suggests they are extremely rare; present at extremely low levels in many soils and rock formations around the world, but seldom at concentrations high enough to make extraction viable. At the moment around 85% of the world’s Rare Earth Elements are produced from two areas in southern China. Several other recently deposits have been found to also contain high levels of uranium and thorium, which creates severe environmental problems to be overcome and some theorists have suggested that Rare Earth Elements could be extracted from the sea floor, where Rare Earth Elements eroded from deposits on land should in theory become concentrated over time, but as yet the technology to extract them from such an environment does not exist, and sites looked at have not yielded particularly high levels anyway.

In a paper published in the journal Gondwana Research on 5 November 2014, Poul Emsbo of the United States Geological Survey, Patrick McLaughlin of the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey at the University of Wisconsin-Extension and George Breit, Edward du Bray and Alan Koenig, also of the United States Geological Survey, examine the presence of Rare Earth Elements in phosphorites (phosphate deposits) at a number of sites around the United States.

Phosphorites are formed in shallow marine settings by the concentration of phosphates from land washed out to sea over time, exactly the same scenario that has been suggested for the concentration of Rare Earth Elements. Thus if it is in theory possible to extract Rare Earth Elements from the sea floor, then it also ought to be possible to extract them from these ancient marine sediments, without the bother of finding ways to mine on the sea floor.

Emsbo et al. looked at 23 phosphorite deposits from locations across the US, ranging from Ordovician to Pliocene in age. All of the deposits are laterally extensive in range (i.e. found over a wide area) and already being commercially targeted for their phosphates.

Localities and stratigraphic age of studied phosphate deposits. Ages and colour coding in the stratigraphic chart are adapted from the International Commission on Stratigraphy. (a) Temporal distribution of major (i.e.,mined) and minor phosphorites in the United States. (b) Spatial distribution of phosphorites sampled by this study. (c) Distribution of major phosphorite occurrences across the United States. Emsbo et al. (2015).

The levels of Rare Earth Elements, and the proportion of each element within the sample, proved to be roughly similar in phosphorites of similar ages from different areas, suggesting that the level of Rare Earth Elements incorporated in sediments depended on the water chemistry at the time the sediment was laid down (the oceans are interconnected and their chemistry remains essentially the same across the globe, but is known to have varied over geological time). Pliocene and other more recent deposits were found to have similar levels of Rare Earth Elements to modern marine deposits, but the levels rose sharply in Miocene deposits, reaching levels similar to those found in commercially worked deposits in China, and remained high in Mesozoic and later Palaeozoic deposits. Deposits from the Late Ordovician and Mississippian were further highly enriched in Heavy Rare Earth Elements (Europium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Dysprosium, Holmium, Erbium, Thulium, Ytterbium, Lutetium and Yttrium), which are particularly sought after in industry.

The discovery of high levels of Rare Earth Elements in American phosphorite deposits has important economic implications, particularly in the Miocene deposits, which are already heavily worked (around 80% of all phosphorus extracted in the US is recovered from Miocene-Pliocene sediments). Rare Earth Elements are generally recovered from sediments by acid leaching (i.e. soaking the ore in acid for long periods to dissolve the desired elements, then recovering these from the resultant sludge). This is an environmentally challenging procedure, but importantly, is also the method used to recover phosphorus.

This means that many plants in the US are currently already extracting Rare Earth Elements from phosphorites, but not then recovering it from the sludge (the easier and less destructive part of the process). Emsbo et al. show that for many Miocene deposits the value of Rare Earth Elements extracted could be similar to that of the phosphorous, doubling the value of the strata.

The raised levels of Heavy Rare Earth elements seen in some deposits are also interesting, not just because of the value of these elements, but because very high levels coincide with extinction events in the biological record. Emsbo et al. suggest that these are not so much evidence of extra elements entering the oceans at the time (as with the iridium anomaly at the end of the Cretaceous, which has been used as evidence of an impact by an iridium-rich meteorite), but rather of prevailing anoxic conditions in the oceans at these times, leading in turn to a drop in oyhyhydroxides in the ocean – chemicals which form bonds with Rare Earth Elements and keep them in the water column, leading to large amounts of Rare Earth Elements settling out of the oceans (with heavier elements settling faster, so that more were deposited before the oceans recovered).

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Mining company charged for polluting Selati and Olifants rivers in Limpopo State, South Africa.

The mining company Bosveld Phosphates is facing criminal charges in South Africa after highly acidic...

Giant fossil Sea Snakes from the early Eocene of Morocco.

The Sea Snake Palaeophis maghrebianus was first described by Camille Arambourg from the early Eocene phosphate beds of Morocco in 1952, though like many fossil Snakes it has been known only from...

Nine killed at illegal rare-earth mine in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, southern China.

On Saturday 26 November 2011, at about 3.30 in the afternoon, a major landslide occurred at a rare earth element mine in Cangwu County in the Guangxi...

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Mining company charged for polluting Selati and Olifants rivers in Limpopo State, South Africa.

The mining company Bosveld Phosphates is facing criminal charges in South Africa after highly acidic water spilled from a dam at Phalaborwa in Limpopo State, South Africa. following heavy rains on 31 December 2013. The pollution affected a 15 m stretch of the Selati River, which flows to the south of the town, and the Olifants River, into which the Selati River flows immediately to the southeast. Officials from the Kruger National Park, where Olifants River is a major water supply, report finding thousands of dead fish along the affected stretch of river, and are monitoring larger animals for health affects.

The approximate location of the Phalaborwa Phosphate Mine. Google Maps.

A spokesman for the firm has stated that the spillage was stopped within 24 hours, and presents no further threat to the environment. However the South African Department of Water and Environmental Affairs has brought criminal charges after tests on water behind the dam revealed that it fell considerably short of standards stipulated in the National Water Act. Scientists are carrying out ongoing testing on waters and sediments along the rivers, as there is concern that sulphates from the spill could inhibit the ability of animals drinking the water (or eating fish from it) to absorb nutrients, leading to long term health problems.

See also Fatality at South African gold mine, Illegal miner arrested in Free State, South Africa, Athabasca River polluted by mine runoff, One worker killed and three others injured at Marikana Platinum Mine, Rustenburg, South Africa and Protests over environmental problems at Indian-owned Mozambique coal mine.

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Giant fossil Sea Snakes from the early Eocene of Morocco.

The Sea Snake Palaeophis maghrebianus was first described by Camille Arambourg from the early Eocene phosphate beds of Morocco in 1952, though like many fossil Snakes it has been known only from disarticulated vertebrae. This is due to the lightly mineralized, easily disarticulated skeletons of Snakes, which tends to result in fossil Snakes, where they are found at all, being poorly preserved and fragmentary.

In a paper published in the journal Palaeontology on 13 February 2013, a team of scientists led by Alexandra Houssaye of the Département Histoire de la Terre at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris and the Steinmann Institut für Geologie, Paläontologie und Mineralogie at Universität Bonn describe several new specimens assigned to Palaeophis maghrebianus, including two incomplete skeletons, and inferences about the living animal made from these.

Partially articulated fossil Palaeophis maghrebianus from the Grand Daoui area in the Oulad Abdoun basin of Morocco. Hossaye et al. (2013).

These new specimens are considerably larger than the previous material, suggesting that Palaeophis maghrebianus may have been larger than any living Snake. The largest vertebrae from the new specimens are around 3.3 cm in length, compared to around 1.9 cm in a 5.9 m Reticulated Python (Python reticulatus). In addition the vertebrae show signs of a denser vascular network than that seen in either Green Anacondas (Eunectes murinus), which can reach 7 m, or Reticulated Pythons, which can reach 9 m, suggesting that Palaeophis maghrebianus was able to grow faster, and larger, than either of these Snakes.

Second specimen of Palaeophis maghrebianus from the Grand Daoui area in the Oulad Abdoun basin of Morocco. Hossaye et al. (2013).

In addition Palaeophis maghrebianus appears to be less flattened ventrally than modern Sea Snakes, and shows poor development of other adaptations to an aquatic lifestyle, suggesting that it was less well adapted to fully marine environments, probably living closer to shore and spending at least some of its time on land. The deposits where the fossils were found are interpreted as having been laid down in an estuarine or shallow marine environment, possibly with the presence of mangrove swamps.

See also A new species of Turtle from the Late Cretaceous of Morocco, A fossil Snake from the Cretaceous of Brazil, A cryptic Sea Snake from Australia, New species of Snail-eating Snake from western Panama and New species of Treesnakes from the Comoras.

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A new species of Turtle from the Late Cretaceous of Morocco.

Turtles are aquatic reptiles with a shell that encases their body, and into which the head and limbs can be retracted at least partially. They have a fossil record that dates back to the Late Triassic, about 220 million years ago, and they have been an important part of many marine and freshwater ecosystems ever since. Their exact relationship to other reptiles is difficult to determine from morphological evidence since their bodies have become so heavily modified, but genetic studies suggest that they are a sister group to the Archosaurs (Crocodiles, Dinosaurs and Birds). The Leatherback Turtles, Dermochelyoidae, lack the rigid boney shells of other turtles, instead having a carapace covered by thick oily skin, which has boney plates embedded within it. The living Leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) is the largest extant Turtle species, reaching around 2.5 m, but it is thought some extinct species may have been even larger.

In a paper published in the journal PLoS One on 11 July 2013, a team of scientists led by Nathalie Bardet of the Département Histoire de la Terre, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle describe a new species of Leatherback Turtle from the Late Cretaceous phosphatic deposits of Sidi Chennane in the Oulad Abdoun Basin in central Morocco.

The new species is named Ocepechelon bouyai, where 'Ocepechelon' derives from 'OCP', acronym for the Groupe Office Chérifien des Phosphates, the mining company exploiting phosphatic deposits in Morocco, plus 'chelon', Greek for Turtle, and 'bouyai' honours Baâdi Bouya, head of the OCP Geological Survey in Khouribga.

The species is named from a single skull, excluding the lower mandible. The skull is 70 cm long, suggesting that the complete animal would have been considerably larger than the extant Leatheback Turtle, and has a unique set of features not seen in any other known living or fossil turtle.

Ocepechelon bouyai, right lateral view of the skull. Photograph and interpretative drawing. Abbreviations: En, external nare; Fr, frontal; Ica, incisura columellae auris; Ju, jugal; Mx, maxilla; Na, nasal; Pa, parietal; Pal, palatine; Pfr, prefrontal; Pmx, premaxilla; Po, postorbital; Pt, pterygoid; Q, quadrate; Qj, quadratojugal; Ra, marks of the rhamphotheca; Sq, squamosal. Bardet et al. (2013).

Ocepechelon bouyai has an elongated cylinder shaped snout, resembling a pipette, without any sign of teeth or other food-processing structures, as well as highly developed pterygoid flanges, forming wing-like structures on the sides of its head.

Ocepechelon bouyai, dorsal (left) and ventral (right) views of the skull. Photographs and interpretative drawings. Abbreviations: Boc, basioccipital; Bsph, basisphenoid; Cho, choanae; En, external nare; Fpci, foramen posterior canalis carotici interni; Fr, frontal; Ica, incisura columellae auris; Ju, jugal; Mx, maxilla; Na, nasal; Op, opisthotic; Pa, parietal; Pal, palatine; Pfr, prefrontal; Pmx, premaxilla; Po, postorbital; pr tro ot, processus trochlearis oticus; Pt, pterygoid; Ptw, pterygoid wing; Q, quadrate; Qj, quadratojugal; Ra, marks of the rhamphotheca; Sq, squamosal; Vo, vomer. Bardet et al. (2013).

Bardet et al. interpret these structures to imply Ocepechelon bouyai was a suction feeder, with a feeding technique similar to that seem in Pipefish and Seahorses, but capable of targeting small Fish, Cephalopods (Squid, Octopus, Belemnites etc.) or Jellyfish, and driven by powerful muscles attached to the pterygoid flanges, which could have been used to create a vacuum in the mouth, sucking food in.

Reconstruction of Ocepechelon bouyai as a living animal. C. Letenneur in Bardet et al. (2013).

See also A Geomydid Turtle from the Miocene of Tanegashima Island, Japan, A Jurassic Turtle bone-bed from the far northwest of China, The death of Lonesome George and the extinction of the Pinta Island Giant Tortoise, An Eucryptodiran Turtle from the Early Cretaceous of Spain and A new species of Giant Side-Necked Turtle from the Palaeocene of Columbia.

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