title: Level crossing

text: In France, cameras have been installed on some level crossings to obtain images to improve understanding of an incident when a technical investigation occurs.


title: Level crossing

text: In South Australia, cameras have been installed at some level crossings to deter non-compliance with signals.


title: Level crossing

text: Level crossings present a significant risk of collisions between trains and road vehicles. This list is not a definitive list of the world's worst accidents and the events listed are limited to those where a separate article describes the event in question.


title: Level crossing

text: Winston Churchill Avenue intersects the runway of Gibraltar International Airport at surface level; movable barricades close when aircraft land or take off.


title: Level crossing

text: The Fianarantsoa-Côte Est railway crosses the runway at Manakara Airport. It is one of the few airports in the world that crosses an active railway line.


title: Level crossing

text: A level crossing near Gisborne, sees the Palmerston North - Gisborne Line cross one of Gisborne Airport's runways. Aircraft landing on sealed 1310-metre runway 14L/32R are signalled with two red flashing lights on either side of the runway and a horizontal bar of flashing red lights to indicate the runway south of the railway line is closed, and may only land on the section of the runway north of the railway line. When the full length of the runway is open, a vertical bar of green lights signal to the aircraft, with regular rail signals on either side of the runway indicating trains to stop.


title: Level crossing

text: The Visby Lärbro Line between Visby and Lärbro crossed the runway of Visby Airport between 1956 and 1960.


title: Harsh Times

text: Harsh Times is a 2005 American action crime film written and directed by David Ayer in his directorial debut. Set in South Central Los Angeles, the film stars Christian Bale and Freddy Rodriguez. The film was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Bauer Martinez Entertainment. Ayer says that the film's characters are largely based on the people he knew when he lived in South Central Los Angeles.


title: Harsh Times

text: Jim Davis (Christian Bale) is a former U.S. Army Ranger and GWOT veteran who suffers from PTSD. Jim has a Mexican girlfriend, Marta (Tammy Trull), whom he is determined to marry and bring into the United States to start a life together. With this in mind, Jim returns to Los Angeles, California.


title: Harsh Times

text: In Los Angeles, Jim meets up with his best friend Mike Alonzo (Freddy Rodriguez). Mike's longtime girlfriend, Sylvia (Eva Longoria), a young attorney, is "on the warpath" over his failure to get a job (his previous job was outsourced) and she encourages Jim to help Mike hand out resumes. After being denied a position in the Los Angeles Police Department for failing the psychological profile, Jim gets drunk with Mike.


title: Harsh Times

text: The two visit Jim's ex-girlfriend, but when her current boyfriend shows up, a fight ensues in which the boyfriend is backed up by a group of friends. Jim is able to get the upper hand and when Mike produces a gun, they subdue the men and rob them of their possessions, including marijuana and a handgun which they later decide to sell. Jim later leaves messages on Mike's answering machine with several different voices, pretending to be companies responding to his resume.


title: Harsh Times

text: The next day, Jim goes to visit Mike and finds Sylvia in a good mood due to the fake callbacks. Jim and Mike go to a "paisa" bar to try to sell the gun, but leave after their potential buyer is killed. Mike is horrified, but Jim is strangely excited by witnessing death again.


title: Harsh Times

text: When Mike arrives back home drunk, Sylvia is upset, so Mike plays back the answering machine, unaware that his friend didn't hang up early enough and his voice is heard on the tape. Sylvia is enraged and throws Mike out. He stays at Jim's place. Jim gets shortlisted for a position with the Department of Homeland Security, but, after cheating to pass a urine test, he fails a polygraph test due to a question about his drug use. The only hope left for him is a government agent working out of Colombia, who appreciates Jim's ability to "get things done"; Jim eventually accepts the position but is warned that he must not marry a foreigner. Jim is told to report to FLETC in a few days. Meanwhile, Mike gets a job with a company managed by an old friend.


title: Harsh Times

text: Mike goes to visit Sylvia and tells her that he has a job for real. She calms down and the two make love. Impatient, Jim goes inside and tells Sylvia that Mike is coming to Mexico with him for the weekend, as it is their last chance to hang out. Sylvia is angry and against the idea, but Mike decides to go with Jim and Toussant to Mexico.


title: Harsh Times

text: In Mexico, the trio attend a big party where Marta reveals she is pregnant, and Jim responds violently, threatening to punch her in the stomach and shoot her in the head. Seeing this from afar, Mike urges Toussant and Jim to leave for home. After Jim drives home dangerously in a belligerent state, Toussant urges Jim to get help and will cut off all contact until he does so. Afterward, Jim reveals to Mike he is transporting 20 kilos of marijuana. When Mike protests, Jim pulls a gun on him, flashing back, before breaking down in tears, horrified at what he is becoming. Mike, filled with pity for his friend, agrees to accompany Jim to the deal. When they arrive, they realize one of the buyers was the same man they had earlier robbed.


title: Harsh Times

text: Hostility ensues with both Jim and the other gang members pulling out guns, resulting in the other man's death. The other members of the buying party plead for their lives, but Jim kills them while suffering flashbacks. While Jim and Mike are escaping in the car, a man comes from the house and shoots at the car with an Armsel Striker; Jim is hit in the back and face and subsequently paralyzed.


title: Harsh Times

text: He urges Mike to "step up" and shoot him, thus ending his suffering. After some hesitation, Mike and Jim say their goodbyes and Mike ends up killing Jim. The film ends with Mike returning to Sylvia. They embrace together as Mike breaks down crying.


title: Harsh Times

text: Christian Bale won praise for his portrayal of Jim Davis. The website's critical consensus reads, "Despite a dedicated performance by Christian Bale, "Harsh Times" suffers from a heavy-handed and overly bleak plot." According to Metacritic, which calculated a weighted average score of 56 out of 100 based on 24 critics, the film received "mixed or average reviews".


title: Caryophyllales

text: Caryophyllales ( ) is a diverse and heterogeneous order of flowering plants that includes the cacti, carnations, amaranths, ice plants, beets, and many carnivorous plants. Many members are succulent, having fleshy stems or leaves. The betalain pigments are unique in plants of this order and occur in all its families with the exception of Caryophyllaceae and Molluginaceae.


title: Caryophyllales

text: The members of Caryophyllales include about 6% of eudicot species. This order is part of the core eudicots. Currently, the Caryophyllales contains 37 families, 749 genera, and 11,620 species The monophyly of the Caryophyllales has been supported by DNA sequences, cytochrome c sequence data and heritable characters such as anther wall development and vessel-elements with simple perforations.


title: Caryophyllales

text: As with all taxa, the circumscription of Caryophyllales has changed within various classification systems. All systems recognize a core of families with centrospermous ovules and seeds. More recent treatments have expanded the Caryophyllales to include many carnivorous plants.


title: Caryophyllales

text: Systematists were undecided on whether Caryophyllales should be placed within the rosid complex or sister to the asterid clade. The possible connection between sympetalous angiosperms and Caryophyllales was presaged by Bessey, Hutchinson, and others; as Lawrence relates: "The evidence is reasonably conclusive that the Primulaceae and the Caryophyllaceae have fundamentally the same type of gynecia, and as concluded by Douglas (1936)(and essentially Dickson, 1936) '...the vascular pattern and the presence of locules at the base of the ovary point to the fact that the present much reduced flower of the Primulaceae has descended from an ancestor which was characterized by a plurilocular ovary and axial placentation. This primitive flower might well be found in centrospermal stock as Wernham, Bessy, and Hutchinson have suggested.' "


title: Caryophyllales

text: Caryophyllales is separated into two suborders: Caryophyllineae and Polygonineae. These two suborders were formerly (and sometimes still are) recognized as two orders, Polygonales and Caryophyllales.


title: Caryophyllales

text: As circumscribed by the APG III system (2009), this order includes the same families as the APG II system (see below) plus the new families, Limeaceae, Lophiocarpaceae, Montiaceae, Talinaceae, and Anacampserotaceae.


title: Caryophyllales

text: As circumscribed by the APG II system (2003), this order includes well-known plants like cacti, carnations, spinach, beet, rhubarb, sundews, venus fly traps, and bougainvillea. Recent molecular and biochemical evidence has resolved additional well-supported clades within the Caryophyllales.


title: Caryophyllales

text: The difference with the order as recognized by APG lies in the first place in the concept of "order". The APG favours much larger orders and families, and the order Caryophyllales "sensu" APG should rather be compared to subclass Caryophyllidae "sensu" Cronquist.


title: Caryophyllales

text: A part of the difference lies with what families are recognized. The plants in the Stegnospermataceae and Barbeuiaceae were included in Cronquist's Phytolaccaceae. The Chenopodiaceae (still recognized by Cronquist) are included in Amaranthaceae by APG.


title: Caryophyllales

text: New to the order ("sensu "APG) are the Asteropeiaceae and Physenaceae, each containing a single genus, and two genera from Cronquist's order Nepenthales.


title: Caryophyllales

text: Earlier systems, such as the Wettstein system, last edition in 1935, and the Engler system, updated in 1964, had a similar order under the name Centrospermae.


title: Joe McElderry

text: Joseph McElderry (; born 16 June 1991) is an English singer and songwriter. He won the sixth series of the ITV show "The X Factor" in 2009. His first single "The Climb" reached number one on both the UK Singles Chart and the Irish Singles Charts. He was also the winner of the second series of "Popstar to Operastar" in 2011 and the first series of "The Jump" in 2014. In 2015, McElderry played the lead role of Joseph in the touring production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat". In 2022, McElderry is set to perform a tour in tribute to George Michael.


title: Joe McElderry

text: To date, McElderry has released five top 20 albums – two of them reaching the UK top three. He was the first "X Factor" contestant to release a fourth album. As of 2014, McElderry had sold over two million records worldwide.


title: Joe McElderry

text: Joseph McElderry was born in South Shields, England, McElderry is the only child of Jim and Eileen (née Joyce) McElderry. The couple separated when McElderry was a child. He was raised in a small flat in South Shields.


title: Joe McElderry

text: McElderry attended Harton Technology College in Lisle Road, South Shields, before joining South Tyneside College to study AS level school qualifications. Subsequently, he joined Newcastle College to study performing arts. He was the Pride of South Tyneside's Young Performer of the Year in 2008. He studied for BTEC National Diploma in Performing Arts (Advanced Performance) at Newcastle College Performance Academy. In 2009, he took the role of 'Danny Zuko' in "Grease" which was performed at Harton Technology College.


title: Joe McElderry

text: McElderry auditioned for "The X Factor" in 2007 and made it to bootcamp. At the time, he believed that he was too young compared to the other contestants and opted to walk away. He auditioned again in 2009 and sang Luther Vandross's "Dance with My Father". Mentored by Cheryl Cole, he made it through to the live finals and was announced the winner on 13 December 2009, beating runner up Olly Murs with his version of "The Climb". McElderry's prize, as winner, was a recording contract with Simon Cowell's Syco record label, whose parent company is Sony Music Entertainment. The contract had a stated value of £1 million, of which £150,000 was a cash advance and the remainder allocated to recording and marketing costs.


title: Joe McElderry

text: Along with "The X Factor" finalists, McElderry recorded vocal for featured on a charity single, a cover of Michael Jackson's hit "You Are Not Alone". It was released in aid of London's Great Ormond Street Hospital. The finalists premiered the song live on the edition of 15 November of the programme; the single was available for digital download that day and a physical release followed the day after. The single reached number one in the UK Singles Chart.


title: Joe McElderry

text: McElderry's debut single, "The Climb", was available to download at midnight on 14 December 2009 and was released physically on 16 December 2009. According to industry sources, approximately 100,000 copies of the single were sold on the day of its release but it was not enough to knock Rage Against The Machine off the spot in the UK in its opening week. On 18 December 2009, it was announced that McElderry secured the top spot in the Irish Singles Chart for 11–17 December 2009.


title: Joe McElderry

text: "The Climb" was a contender for 2009's UK Christmas number one, competing against, and losing to, Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name". McElderry's single sold 450,000 compared to Rage Against the Machine's 502,000 after a Facebook-based campaign was started in protest of "The X Factor"s dominance of the Christmas number one title. This was the first time since 2004 that the "X Factor" winning single was denied the top spot for Christmas in the UK Singles Charts. Simon Cowell stated that he was "gutted for Joe because a number one single meant a lot to him. But I have to congratulate Jon and Tracy [Morter, who started the Facebook campaign]." McElderry's single stayed at number one on the Irish charts for a second week securing him the Irish Christmas number one (18–25 December 2009), and the song moved up to the top spot in the UK Singles Chart on 27 December. The single had the fifth highest sales of all UK singles released in 2009 staying one week at 1, and was the top-selling Irish single of 2009, where it remained at the top spot for four consecutive weeks.


title: Joe McElderry

text: "The Climb" was nominated in the British Single category at the 2010 BRIT Awards but lost out to fellow "X Factor" contestants JLS. McElderry performed "Don't Stop Believin'" and presented an award at the 15th National Television Awards in London on 20 January 2010. In January 2010, he participated in the Helping Haiti charity single, a cover of "Everybody Hurts" arranged by Simon Cowell in order to raise money for victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.


title: Joe McElderry

text: McElderry and seven other finalists, Olly Murs, Stacey Solomon, Danyl Johnson, Lloyd Daniels, John & Edward, Jamie Archer and Lucie Jones, appeared in the "X Factor" Live tour, which began on 15 February 2010 at the Echo Arena Liverpool and concluded on 4 April at the SECC. McElderry performed the songs "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", "Love Story", "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word", "She's Out of My Life", "Don't Stop Believin'" and his debut single "The Climb" on the tour. On 15 March, it was reported that McElderry had signed a modelling deal with Next Models.


title: Joe McElderry

text: In 2010, McElderry recorded his debut album, "Wide Awake", which was released on 25 October 2010. The first single released from "Wide Awake" was "Ambitions", a cover of a song by Norwegian band Donkeyboy. He filmed a music video for the song in September 2010. "Ambitions" premiered on BBC Radio One on 19 September 2010. The single went on sale on 8 October 2010 in Ireland. It went on sale by digital download in United Kingdom on 10 October 2010, with the physical CD available for purchase in the United Kingdom the following day. The song debuted at No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 4 on the Irish Chart.


title: Joe McElderry

text: "Wide Awake" debuted at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart, with retail sales of 39,405 copies in the country during the album's first week of release. The album fell to number 20 on the chart the following week, and to number 40 the week after that. As of 4 December 2011, 101,454 copies of the album had been sold at retail in the United Kingdom.


title: Joe McElderry

text: "Someone Wake Me Up" was the second single taken from the album. It was released as a single on 5 December 2010 in the United Kingdom. It debuted and peaked at number 68 on the UK Singles Chart.


title: Joe McElderry

text: McElderry was approached by Twentieth Century Fox to record the specially written track, "There's A Place For Us", written by American songstress Carrie Underwood. The track features in "". and was also the B-side to "Someone Wake Me Up". The song was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 2011 for Best Original Song – Motion Picture.


title: Joe McElderry

text: McElderry told Terry Wogan in an interview on BBC Radio 2 that he had parted ways with Syco in February 2011. McElderry told Tony Horne that he had a meeting with Syco staff members in February 2011. At the meeting, he expressed his unhappiness with the company, and told staff members that his relationship with Syco was not working for him. McElderry has also stated that his split with Syco was amicable, and there was no "fight" between them. He told the Shields Gazette: "I really like Simon Cowell and always think very highly of him ... There's no hard feelings there — there never has been and never will be." He told Capital FM on 19 August 2011 that he was "forever thankful" to Syco and Simon Cowell for the opportunity they gave him. He also denied a report (attributed to an unnamed "friend" in the "Daily Mail"s article about Syco's dropping of him) that he was "devastated" when Syco dropped him.


title: Joe McElderry

text: Also in 2011, McElderry terminated his relationship with Modest! Management, the management company that had managed him since his victory on "X Factor". In March 2013, McElderry signed to London-based Touchstone Media Group/Celeb Agents as his new management.


title: Joe McElderry

text: On 9 May 2011, McElderry performed the song "Something's Coming" from West Side Story at a reception at Buckingham Palace that celebrated young people in the performing arts.


title: Joe McElderry

text: In late January or early February 2011, ITV approached McElderry's management about his being a contestant on the upcoming second series of "Popstar to Operastar". McElderry agreed and entered the show, which started on 5 June 2011. His coaches were Rolando Villazón and Katherine Jenkins. Other judges included Vanessa-Mae and Simon Callow. McElderry won "Popstar to Operastar" on 10 July 2011. After the show it was revealed that, in all of the episodes in which he competed, McElderry received more votes than all of the other contestants combined, never receiving less than 58.2% of the total public votes.


title: Joe McElderry

text: The label was later revealed to be Decca Records. On 24 July 2011, he headlined a free homecoming gig at Bents Park as part of South Tyneside Summer Festival 2011, singing a set list of 20 songs, with over 20,000 people in the audience- the biggest turnout the event has ever had. His album, "Classic", was released on 22 August 2011. "Classic" debuted on the official UK top 40 albums chart at number 2 on the chart that was released on 28 August 2011. The album was certified gold, within 10 days after the release.


title: Joe McElderry

text: McElderry performed at Festival of Remembrance on 12 November 2011. This was his third time performing before Queen Elizabeth II. He embarked on his debut solo tour, Classic Tour in November 2011 and appeared on "Big River Big Songs: The Tyne", singing the title track, "Big River".


title: Joe McElderry

text: McElderry released a Christmas album entitled "Classic Christmas" on 28 November 2011. During the album's first week of release in the United Kingdom, 34,043 copies of the album were sold at retail in the country, and the album debuted at number 15 on the UK Albums Chart. On 8 December, he performed at Durham Cathedral to an audience of 1,500, singing, "In the Bleak Midwinter" and David Essex's "A Winter's Tale", with a new verse written by Tim Rice. He introduced The Nutcracker at The O2 Arena from 27 December 2011 to 30 December 2011 by singing 3 songs of "Classic Christmas", "Adeste Fideles", "Silent Night" and a solo version of "O Holy Night".


title: Joe McElderry

text: McElderry made an appearance on BBC TV series "The Magicians" in January 2012 and "Newsround" in February 2012, answering questions about what he was like at the age of 10. During the recording of his fourth studio album, he performed at The Royal Albert Hall in support of The Hunger Project, singing "Don't Stop Believin'", "Nessun Dorma" and a duet with Dionne Warwick, "One World, One Song". He was also scheduled to make a guest appearance in the "Coronation Street" musical, "Street of Dreams", singing the finale number "Ghost – Take My Hand" in the show's Newcastle dates, originally set for 29 May and 30 May. After the first two shows, the later dates, including the ones on which McElderry was set to perform, were postponed and eventually cancelled. On 3 June 2012, he performed at the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, he sang for guests on board a Dunkirk ship, The Viscount.


title: Joe McElderry

text: McElderry's fourth album, "Here's What I Believe", includes collaborations with Beth Nielsen Chapman, Marcella Detroit and Ludovico Einaudi. Released on 10 September 2012, it reached number 8 in the charts, making it his third album to reach the top 10.


title: Joe McElderry

text: McElderry made a cameo appearance in a musical version of "Dirty Dancing" at the Sunderland Empire on Tuesday 25 September. He played Tommy in "The Who's Tommy" at the Prince Edward Theatre for a one-off appearance on 12 November He also appeared in "Thriller – Live" alongside Stooshe and Macy Gray. In November 2012, he became a columnist for "Gay Times" ("GT"), writing about his music and other recent projects. He wrote columns for four issues of the magazine.


title: Joe McElderry

text: On 8 February 2013, McElderry was awarded a Variety Silver Heart award. An event, 'A Tribute to Joe McElderry' was held to celebrate his career so far and where he was presented the award. Money raised on the evening went towards the children's charity 'Variety'. In March 2013, he appeared as a celebrity guest judge during the audition stages on the third series of "Comic Relief does Glee Club".


title: Joe McElderry

text: McElderry went on tour for the summer of 2013, where he presented a new song, "Memory of You". On 17 November, he released the single "Wonderful Dream (Holidays are Coming)". In December 2013 and January 2014, he played the starring role of Prince Charming in Qdos Entertainment Pantomimes "Cinderella" at The Beck Theatre, Hayes. This was his pantomime debut, and he starred alongside Shane Richie Jr. for a 38 performance run. His single "Wonderful Dream (Holidays are Coming)" featured in the show. He also appeared as a guest on the "James Whale Radio Show".


title: Joe McElderry

text: In January 2014, while on a skiing holiday, McElderry entered Channel 4 series hosted by Davina McCall, "The Jump", as a last minute replacement to Henry Conway who was injured on the show. McElderry earned a place on the show after a jump-off with another celebrity sub, Donal MacIntyre, who would also join the show after the Melinda Messenger withdrew. In February 2014, McElderry was announced as the winner after jumping 17.5 metres off the K40 ski jump.


title: Joe McElderry

text: In 2014, McElderry performed a fifty-date tour throughout the UK called the "Set Your Soul Alive" tour. During this period, he also worked on material for his fifth studio album. After finishing the "Set Your Soul Alive" tour, he appeared on Kerry Ellis' self-titled album in a cover of "(I've Had) The Time of My Life".


title: Joe McElderry

text: In September 2015, McElderry again played the lead role in the rock musical "The Who's Tommy", this time in a two-week run at the Opera House Theatre in Blackpool.


title: Joe McElderry

text: Also in 2015, McElderry landed the lead role of Joseph in the following year's UK touring production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat". The tour began in January 2016 and ran through July 2016.


title: Joe McElderry

text: McElderry received very positive reviews for his performances as Joseph. Mark Leslie of the "Lynn News" called him "a shining star" in the role. Janet Tansley of the "Liverpool Echo" wrote that McElderry "breathed new life into this middle-aged musical", adding: "His voice was solid and silken and, simply, faultless, rendering 'Close Every Door' possibly the best version I have ever heard". Mark Shenton wrote in "The Stage" that McElderry "may just be the best sung Joseph there's ever been, bringing a vocal flair to Joseph that's utterly ravishing". John Wood of North West End wrote: "McElderry has been good from the moment the curtain rose; he has a good voice, obviously, and can really handle the comedy, but on Close Every Door he completely takes over, his voice filled with emotion and absolutely soaring; he has the audience breathless. He has made it his own and I can't imagine anyone performing it better. For his efforts he receives rapturous applause."


title: Joe McElderry

text: "Saturday Night at the Movies", McElderry's fifth studio album, features a collection of songs from films and musicals. The album was released on 14 July 2017 by Decca Records. McElderry promoted the album with a "Saturday Night at the Movies" national tour throughout July and August 2017, featuring Lloyd Daniels from the sixth series of The X Factor and Keith Jack and Ben James-Ellis from Any Dream Will Do.


title: Joe McElderry

text: McElderry took part in the Great North Run half marathon 13.1 mile race on 19 September 2010 raising money for Teenage Cancer Trust, a charity for which he is also an ambassador. He performed at The Ray of Sunshine charity concert on 11 March 2011. Two days later, he performed at Theatre Royal in Newcastle to help raise money for Josie's Dragonfly trust. He also took part in a Comic Relief campaign, where celebrities and prolific Twitter users auctioned off the chance to be followed by a star, it raised £560.


title: Joe McElderry

text: McElderry performed on 13 July 2011 at the Newcastle Teenage Cancer Trust Unit. His acoustic set was streamed live to all other Teenage Cancer Trust units across the country as well as on the website. In 2012, he performed at the "Sunday for Sammy" benefit concert.


title: Joe McElderry

text: McElderry recorded a charity single with The Royal Mail Choir. The song, "Abide with Me", was released independently on 14 April 2013, raising money for Prostate Cancer UK. He took part in Soccer Six charity on 18 May. In the same month, he released a charity single with Dionne Warwick, "One World, One Song", which they had performed the year before at the Royal Albert Hall, raising money for The Hunger Project.


title: Joe McElderry

text: McElderry was harassed by one Twitter user throughout 2010 and 2011. On 24 December 2011, a man was arrested in McElderry's home town of South Shields and later charged with harassment. The individual was found guilty, fined £1,000 and received a 5-year restraining order.


title: Aventurine

text: Aventurine is a form of quartz, characterised by its translucency and the presence of platy mineral inclusions that give it a shimmering or glistening effect termed "aventurescence".


title: Aventurine

text: The most common color of aventurine is green, but it can also be orange, brown, yellow, blue, or grey. Chrome-bearing fuchsite (a variety of muscovite mica) is the classic inclusion and gives a silvery green or blue sheen. Oranges and browns are attributed to hematite or goethite. Because aventurine is a rock, its physical properties vary: its specific gravity may lie between 2.64-2.69 and its hardness is somewhat lower than single-crystal quartz at around 6.5.


title: Aventurine

text: Aventurine feldspar or sunstone can be confused with orange and red aventurine quartzite, although the former is generally of a higher transparency. Aventurine is often banded and an overabundance of fuchsite may render it opaque, in which case it may be mistaken for malachite at first glance.


title: Aventurine

text: The name "aventurine" derives from the Italian "a ventura" meaning "by chance." This is an allusion to the lucky discovery of aventurine glass or goldstone at some point in the 18th century. One story runs that this kind of glass was originally made accidentally at Murano by a workman, who let some copper filings fall into the molten “metal,” whence the product was called "avventurino". From the Murano glass the name passed to the mineral, which displayed a rather similar appearance. Although it was known first, goldstone is now a common imitation of aventurine and sunstone. Goldstone is distinguished visually from the latter two minerals by its coarse flecks of copper, dispersed within the glass in an unnaturally uniform manner. It is usually a golden brown, but may also be found in blue or green.


title: Aventurine

text: The majority of green and blue-green aventurine originates in India (particularly in the vicinity of Mysore and Chennai) where it is employed by prolific artisans. Creamy white, gray and orange material is found in Chile, Spain and Russia. Most material is carved into beads and figurines with only the finer examples fashioned into cabochons, later being set into jewellery.


title: Himmanshoo A. Malhotra

text: Himanshu A. Malhotra (born Himanshu Malhotra) is an Indian actor. He is the winner of "Nach Baliye 7" and later participated in "".


title: Himmanshoo A. Malhotra

text: Malhotra first came to light when he was selected to participate in Zee TV's "India's Best Cinestars Ki Khoj" in 2004. The actor is a familiar face on Indian television as he has appeared in various shows like "Hum Tum", "Bindass Champ", "Seven", "Shubh Kadam", "Aap Ki Antara", and "Bhagonwali-Baante Apni Taqdeer". Himanshu made his Bollywood debut in Raj Sippy's "Mr. Khujli". Along with his recurring roles, he had special appearances in several shows like Star One's "Horror Nights", Imagine's "Kitani Mohabbat Hai 2", and Zee TV's "Pavitra Rishta". He was also seen in Sony's "Love Marriage Ya Arranged Marriage" as Anoop. He has appeared in Zee TV's "Rab Se Sona Ishq". He was seen in "Yeh Hai Aashiqui" on Bindass opposite Shivshakti Sachdev, "Encounter" on Sony TV and "Fear Files" on Zee TV. He also essayed an important role in "Airlines" on Star Plus. He participated in "Nach Baliye 7" with wife Amruta Khanvilkar and won. He also joined the cast of "Ek Nayi Ummeed - Roshni" as Dr. Sameer Purohit on Life Ok.


title: Fox Nation

text: Fox Nation is an American subscription video on demand service. Announced on February 20, 2018, and launching on November 27 of that year, it is a companion to Fox News Channel carrying programming of interest to its audience, including original opinion-based talk shows and documentary-style programs featuring Fox News personalities (which, as with its parent network, are produced from a conservative perspective), outdoor recreation-related programs, and other acquired programming. It also offers next-day streaming of Fox News primetime programs.


title: Fox Nation

text: The "Fox Nation" name originates from a website Fox News had launched in 2009, which featured blogs by conservative and liberal commentators. The new service was announced for a debut in late-2018, and was described as being catered to "superfans" of Fox News—which the network deemed to be "the most loyal audience in cable, if not all of television".


title: Fox Nation

text: Some of the original programming on the service has included "Nuff Said with Tyrus, What Made America Great" with Brian Kilmeade, and "Sincerely, Kat"—hosted by "The Greg Gutfeld Show" panelist Kat Timpf."" Diamond and Silk had a program on Fox Nation, but were dropped by Fox News in March 2020 amid their promotion of COVID-19 misinformation.


title: Fox Nation

text: In 2020, the service began to acquire outdoor recreation-themed programming, including acquiring streaming rights to the former A&E reality show "Duck Dynasty", and premiering the original hunting series "Fox Nation Outdoors."


title: Fox Nation

text: On March 29, 2021, the service began to carry "Tucker Carlson Today"—a spin-off of "Tucker Carlson Tonight". Tucker Carlson also produces original documentaries for the service under the banner "Tucker Carlson Originals".


title: Fox Nation

text: In May 2021, Fox Nation began to stream Fox News primetime programs (such as "Tucker Carlson Tonight and Hannity") on-demand the day after their original airing, branded as "Fox News Primetime All the Time". It also added a video simulcast of Dan Bongino's syndicated radio show, as part of an agreement for him to host a new Saturday night program on Fox News. In September 2021, Fox Nation greenlit a revival of former Fox series "Cops" for a 33rd season, after having previously been dropped by Paramount Network"."


title: Fox Nation

text: In March 2022, Fox Nation announced "Duck Family Treasure", a new reality series starring Jase and Jep Robertson of "Duck Dynasty" fame. In April 2022, Fox Nation announced "Historic Battles for America", a historical miniseries narrated by Kelsey Grammer. It also acquired "Piers Morgan Uncensored" from the British channel TalkTV, which a sister to Fox News via sister company News Corp and News UK. In September 2022 Fox Nation premiered its first direct-to-streaming film, "The Shell Collector", adapted from the novel by Nancy Naigle.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: The Cape Town Stadium (; ) is an association football (soccer) and rugby union stadium in Cape Town, South Africa, that was built for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. During the planning stage, it was known as the Green Point Stadium, which was the name of the older stadium on an adjacent site, and this name was also used frequently during World Cup media coverage. It is the home ground of Premier Soccer League clubs Cape Town Spurs (since 2010) and Cape Town City (since 2016). It has also hosted the South Africa Sevens rugby tournament since 2015.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: The stadium is located in Green Point, between Signal Hill and the Atlantic Ocean, close to the Cape Town city center and to the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, a popular tourist and shopping venue. The stadium had a seating capacity of 64,100 during the 2010 World Cup, later reduced to 58,309. The stadium is connected to the waterfront by a new road connection, Granger Bay Boulevard. Cape Town Stadium is the 5th biggest stadium in South Africa; the biggest in Cape Town.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: During construction, Cape Town Stadium was unofficially known as Green Point Stadium, the name of an older stadium adjacent to it that was partially demolished and rebuilt into the Green Point Athletics Stadium. During October 2009, the city asked for the public to propose names for the new stadium and the name Cape Town Stadium was chosen.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: The stadium is adjacent to the site of the original 18,000 seater stadium Green Point Stadium. It replaces a portion of the Metropolitan Golf Club site which has now been realigned.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: The previous stadium, originally constructed in 1897 and which was partly demolished in 2007 and rebuilt in 2013 as the Green Point Athletics Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium used for cycling, athletics, cricket and soccer. Later used mainly for soccer matches, it was the home ground of Santos Football Club and Ajax Cape Town at different points. It also hosted music concerts, including the November 2003 46664 Concert for the benefit of AIDS victims. The section of the old stadium that remained was redeveloped into the Green Point Athletics Stadium, which opened in 2015 with a seating capacity of 4500.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: In 33 months, joint venture contractors Murray & Roberts, now known as Concor and WBHO completed the project at a cost of R4.4billion – or approximately US$600million.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: The project architects were an association between GMP Architects of Germany and two local firms, Louis Karol and Associates and Point Architects.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: The structural engineers comprised a joint venture between BKS, Henry Fagan & Partners, KFD Wilkinson, Goba, Iliso and Arcus Gibb.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: Cape Town Stadium was officially handed over to the City of Cape Town on schedule on 14 December 2009. At a ceremony in front of over 200 invited guests and the media representatives from around the world, Cape Town Executive Mayor Alderman Dan Plato, received the keys to the stadium officially confirming the opening of Cape Town Stadium.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: A consortium consisting of South Africa's Sail Group and French-based Stade de France were awarded the service contract to operate the stadium and ensure that it remains a sustainable multi-purpose venue after the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The consortium, called Business Venture Investments 1317, was involved in the management of the stadium from January 2009 onwards. The city municipality paid the consortium to manage the stadium up to and during the World Cup, after which the consortium will lease the stadium from the city for a period of not less than 10 years and not more than 30 years.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: Following the World Cup, temporary rows of seating on either side on the top tier were replaced by events suites and clubrooms, reducing the stadium's capacity to 58,300. The stadium features corporate hospitality suites, medical, training, and conferencing and banqueting facilities. The consortium will operate the stadium as well as manage and maintain the defined areas of the surrounding urban park and sport precinct on the 85-hectare Greenpoint Common from stadium revenue.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: Ajax Cape Town have used the stadium as their home ground from the 2010-11 Premier Soccer League (PSL) season onwards. Due to the stadium's ongoing financial problems, the City of Cape Town had sought to acquire Western Province rugby as an "anchor tenant". After four years of talks, Western Province announced in December 2014 that they had decided to remain at Newlands Stadium. In March 2015, the South African Rugby Union announced that the South Africa Sevens tournament would be staged at Cape Town Stadium for four years, beginning in December 2015.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: In June 2016, it was announced that new PSL club Cape Town City would also play at Cape Town Stadium.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: In late 2020, Western Province RFU announced that they were selling their longtime home of Newlands Stadium to developers, who planned to demolish the ground and convert it to a mixed-use development. From 2021 onwards, franchise rugby team Stormers and Currie Cup side WP will call Cape Town Stadium home, as will international rugby tests played in Cape Town.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: The first game to be hosted at the new Cape Town Stadium was a Cape Town derby between Ajax Cape Town and Santos on 23 January 2010 as part of the official inauguration of the stadium. Only 20,000 tickets were made available for the event and were sold out by Friday 15 January 2010. The Soccer Festival had entertainment from local band Freshlyground and a Vuvuzela orchestra performance during half time.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: The second of three 'dry runs' at the new Cape Town Stadium was another Cape Town derby. Local Cape Town rugby teams, The Vodacom Stormers and the Boland Inv. XV battled it out at the Cape Town Rugby Festival that took place on 6 February 2010. The Rugby Festival had entertainment from local band Flat Stanley. Only 40,000 tickets were made available for the event. This was double the amount that attended the Soccer Festival.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: Cape Town Stadium hosted its third test event on Monday 22 March, during which all 55,000 permanent seats were available for the first time. A total of 52,000 tickets were sold.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: ‘Cape Town For Jesus', a religious gathering addressed by South African evangelist Angus Buchan, was the first major non-sporting event hosted at the stadium, and gave the stadium operators another chance to test their readiness ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: Cape Town Stadium hosted its fourth and final test event on Saturday 10 April. This was the first time that the stadium was utilised at night, for the International Under-20 Soccer Challenge between South Africa, Brazil, Nigeria and Ghana. About 40,000 attended the event that tested the stadium's readiness for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: In the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Cape Town Stadium hosted five first round matches, one second round, one quarter-final, and one semi-final. During the World Cup, all FIFA media referred to the stadium as 'Green Point Stadium'.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: On 17 November 2010, the Cape Town Stadium hosted its first international friendly. The match was between South Africa and the USA, where they played for the Nelson Mandela Challenge Trophy.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: There was speculation of a possible move of the Super rugby team Stormers to the Cape Town Stadium. However, the Stormers have since continued playing at Newlands Stadium, which is owned by the Western Province Rugby Football Union.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: The sixth edition took place on 7 February 2020 in Cape Town, South Africa and featured Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Federer confirmed the date, location, and opponent during the 2019 edition of Wimbledon. Federer said he had pursued Nadal's participation for two years before a date as agreed upon. South Africa is the birth country of Federer's mother and the focus of his charitable foundation. The doubles match consisted Roger Federer and Bill Gates versus Rafael Nadal and Trevor Noah, host of The Daily Show. Federer and Gates won the match 6-4. In singles, Federer beat Nadal with the score 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. The event was attended by 51,954 people (the highest attendance ever recorded at a tennis match) and more than $3.5 million was raised in aid of children’s education in Africa.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: Cape Town Stadium was featured in the film "Safe House" (2012). The stadium also features in many local advertising and print media campaigns.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: On 7 November 2012, shortly before the U.S rock band Linkin Park was set to perform at the sold-out stadium, gusts of wind caused advertising scaffolding outside the stadium to collapse onto a crowd of people injuring 19 and killing 1; of the 19 injured, 12 were taken to hospital for further treatment.


title: Cape Town Stadium

text: Several individuals and groups have called for the stadium to be demolished due to its under-utilization after the World Cup. Effective utilization and use of the stadium is thus a political issue in the city.


title: W12 engine

text: A W12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where three banks of four cylinders are arranged in a W configuration around a common crankshaft.


title: W12 engine

text: W12 engines with three banks of four cylinders were used by several aircraft engines from 1917 until the 1930s. A three-bank design was also used for an unsuccessful W12 engine which was intended to compete in Formula One in 1990.


title: W12 engine

text: The W12 engine has been produced by the Volkswagen Group since 2001. This four-bank engine – based on two VR6 engines with a common crankshaft – has only been used in flagship high performance car models produced under the Volkswagen Group.


title: W12 engine

text: The Napier Lion was a three-bank design (also called "broad arrow" design) W12 engine produced in the United Kingdom from 1917 to the late 1930s. It had a capacity of and produced . As well as use in various military and racing airplanes, the Lion was also used in land speed record cars (such as the Napier-Railton and the Napier-Campbell Blue Bird) and racing boats (such as the Miss Britain III).


title: W12 engine

text: During the 1920s, the Farman 12We aircraft engine was produced in France. The 12We produced and was one of the company's best-selling engines in the 1920s.


title: W12 engine

text: The Lorraine 12E Courlis is another W12 aircraft engine that was produced in France during the 1920s and 1930s.


title: W12 engine

text: For the 1990 Formula One season, the Italian team Life Racing Engines built a three-bank W12 engine with a displacement of . The Life Racing Engine F35 used a central master connecting rod, with a slave rod locating onto each side of the master rod, rather than directly onto the crank pin. This meant that there was no offset between the cylinders, reducing the length of the crankpins. The engine was used in rounds 1 to 12 of the 1990 season, however it was unreliable and lacking in power, and the car failed to pre-qualify for any races. The W12 engine was replaced by a third-party V8 engine after round 12.


title: W12 engine

text: The only mass-production W12 engine is the Volkswagen 6.0 WR12 48v, a four-bank design that was first released in 2001. The naturally aspirated variant of the W12 engine has been used in the brands of Audi and Volkswagen. In 2003, a twin-turbocharged version of the W12 engine was produced to be used exclusively in the Bentley Continental GT and Bentley Flying Spur.


title: W12 engine

text: The engine is constructed by mating two narrow-angle 15° VR6 engines at an inclined angle of 72°. The narrow angle of each set of cylinders allows just two overhead camshafts to drive each pair of banks, so the W12 engine has the same number of camshafts as a V12 engine. The W12 engine has a very compact design for a 12-cylinder engine, with the overall size of the engine being smaller than Volkswagen's contemporary V8 engine.


title: W12 engine

text: The first application of the Volkswagen W12 was the 2001 Volkswagen W12, a mid-engined concept car which set the 24‑hour world endurance record in 2001 with a distance of and an average speed of .


title: W12 engine

text: The first production car to use the W12 engine was the 2001 Audi A8 (D2). The succeeding Audi A8 (D3) and Audi A8 (D4) also had the W12 as an upgrade engine only for the long-wheelbase variant, the Audi A8L W12, which was last available in the 2018 model year. The Audi A8L W12 with its all-wheel drive was unique among its German contemporaries, as 12-cylinder rivals from BMW and Mercedes-Benz used V12 engines with rear-wheel drive.


title: W12 engine

text: Other cars to use the W12 engine are the 2003–present Bentley Continental GT, 2005-present Bentley Flying Spur, 2015–present Bentley Bentayga, 2004-2011 Volkswagen Phaeton W12 and the 2005-2010 Volkswagen Touareg W12. The engine was also used in the 2006 Spyker C12 La Turbie and 2008 Spyker C12 Zagato low-volume sports cars.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: Jean Bart was a French fast battleship, the second and final member of the . Built as a response to the Italian , the "Richelieu"s were based on their immediate predecessors of the with the same unconventional arrangement that grouped their main battery forward in two quadruple gun turrets. They were scaled up to accommodate a much more powerful main battery of eight guns (compared to the guns of the "Dunkerque"s), with increased armor to protect them from guns of the same caliber. "Jean Bart" was laid down in 1936 and was launched in 1940, following the outbreak of World War II in Europe. The ship was not complete by the time Germany won the Battle of France, and "Jean Bart" was rushed to Casablanca to escape advancing German troops. She had only one of her main turrets installed, along with a handful of anti-aircraft guns.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: While in Casablanca, the French attempted to prepare the ship for action as much as was possible in light of limited infrastructure and the necessary parts to complete the vessel. Her anti-aircraft armament was slowly strengthened as guns became available and a search radar was fitted in 1942. In November, American and British forces invaded French North Africa in Operation Torch; "Jean Bart" initially helped to resist the attack, engaging in a gunnery duel with the battleship before being badly damaged by American dive bombers. Following the defection of French forces in the region to the Allied side, the French attempted to have the ship completed in the United States, but the requests came to nothing as the US Navy had no interest in the project. "Jean Bart" was accordingly repaired as much as possible in Casablanca, thereafter spending the rest of the war as a training ship there.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: In 1945, discussions as to the fate of the ship considered converting her into an aircraft carrier, finishing her as a battleship, or discarding her altogether. The decision was ultimately made to finish her as a battleship, a process that took several years. Most work on the ship was completed by 1955, when she formally entered active service, and she conducted two overseas cruises to visit Denmark and the United States shortly thereafter. For the first and last time of either of their careers, "Richelieu" and "Jean Bart" cruised together on 30 January 1956. "Jean Bart" took part in the French intervention in the Suez Crisis in November 1956, including a brief four-shot bombardment of Port Said. Reduced to reserve in August 1957, she was used as a barracks ship until 1961. She remained, unused, in the French Navy's inventory until 1970 when she was struck from the naval register and sold for scrap.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: When in 1934 Italy announced that it would begin building two s armed with guns, the French Navy immediately began preparations to counter them. The small s that had been ordered provided the template for the next French battleship design, but it needed to be scaled up to match the new Italian vessels, both in terms of offensive and defensive characteristics. The design staff considered 380 and guns, but the latter could not be incorporated in a design that remained within the limit imposed by the Washington Naval Treaty and was quickly discarded. The "Dunkerque"s carried their armament in two quadruple gun turrets arrayed in a superfiring pair forward of the superstructure, and the designers experimented with other arrangements, including combinations of triple and twin turrets, but the need to minimize the length of the armor belt (and thus its weight) necessitated a repetition of the "Dunkerque" layout.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: "Jean Bart" displaced standard and fully loaded, with an overall length of , a beam of and a maximum draft of . She was powered by four Parsons geared steam turbines and six oil-fired Sural water-tube boilers, which developed a total of and yielded a maximum speed of . At a cruising speed of , the ship could steam for . Her crew numbered 1,569 officers and men. The ship carried four Loire 130 seaplanes on the fantail, and the aircraft facilities consisted of a steam catapult and a crane to handle the floatplanes.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: She was armed with eight 380 mm/45 Modèle (Mle) 1935 guns arranged in two quadruple gun turrets, both of which were placed in a superfiring pair forward of the superstructure. Her secondary armament consisted of nine /55 Mle 1930 guns mounted in three triple turrets, arranged on the rear superstructure. Heavy anti-aircraft (AA) defense consisted of twelve /45 Mle 1930 anti-aircraft guns in twin turrets. Close range anti-aircraft defense was provided by a battery of eight guns in twin mounts and twenty machine guns in four quadruple and two twin mounts. The ship's belt armor was thick amidships, and the main battery turrets were protected by of armor plate on the faces. The main armored deck was thick, and the conning tower had thick sides.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: The French Navy awarded the contract for "Jean Bart" on 27 May 1936 to the Chantiers de Penhoët shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, although construction was sub-contracted to the adjacent A. C. Loire shipyard as its own facilities were busy with the "Dunkerque"-class battleship . The keel for "Jean Bart" was laid down on 12 December, less than three weeks before the Washington Treaty expired. The construction of "Jean Bart" and her sister ship placed France in violation of the terms of the treaty, which had limited the country to build of battleships during the ten-year building moratorium. The two "Richelieu"s and the two "Dunkerque"-class battleships totaled of battleship tonnage. France used the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, which Britain had unilaterally signed with Nazi Germany (and in the process effectively nullified the naval disarmament clauses of the Treaty of Versailles) in June 1935 to dismiss British objections to the new ships. Serious work on the ship was nevertheless delayed owing to the shortage of dockyard workers and the need to complete the hull of the "Strasbourg" so she could be launched later that month. The dry dock used to build the ship was A. C. Loire's newly completed Caquot dock, named for its designer, Albert Caquot, though it was commonly referred to as the ""Jean Bart" dock". Work on the ship initially proceeded slowly, though the increase in tensions with Germany in early 1939 leading to the German invasion of Poland and the outbreak of World War II led to greater emphasis being placed on completing the ship.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: She was launched on 6 March 1940, but following the initial German successes in the Battle of France in May, the builders realized that the normal process of fitting-out would have to be abandoned in favor of preparing the vessel to be moved from the port. Work on the ship's propulsion system was greatly accelerated: some 3,500 workers were assigned to the project, and in the span of a month, three of her boilers, two sets of turbines, two turbo generators, and two pumps had been installed, along with critical internal communications systems. The outer shaft screws were installed on 6 and 7 June, and her three aft boilers had fires lit for the first time from 12 to 14 June. Her rudder and anchor chains were installed, and her double bottom was sealed. At this time, the ship's armament was mostly incomplete; the forward main battery turret had its guns and armor plate installed, but it lacked necessary shell handling equipment and fire control systems. The superfiring turret was without its guns or armor and none of the secondary turrets had been installed. During the rush to prepare the ship to depart, a pair of twin-mount Mle 1930 anti-aircraft guns, taken from the net layer , was installed on 18 June in place of the 100 mm guns, construction of which had been delayed, but they had no ammunition or directors at the time. Three of the 37 mm guns and six of the 13.2 mm mounts were installed, and these were the only usable weapons aboard the ship at the time of her departure, albeit only under local control as their director systems were also still incomplete.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: While work was still being completed, the ship's commander, "Capitaine de vaisseau" ("CV"—Ship-of-the-line captain) Pierre-Jean Ronarc'h received orders on 11 June to depart for Casablanca in French Morocco as soon as was practical. He estimated that 19 June would be the best opportunity based on the tides, and early that morning "Jean Bart" was towed out of the fitting-out dock by three tugboats at 03:30 and into a channel that had been quickly but not sufficiently dredged to allow her escape. The ship accidentally grounded in the darkness, bending one of her screw blades, but the tugs pulled her free and at 04:45, the crew got "Jean Bart"s engines started. Shortly thereafter, three German Heinkel 111 bombers arrived at a height of to attack the ship. One of the aircraft scored a hit with a bomb that struck between the main battery turrets but did insignificant damage. "Jean Bart" increased speed to and at 06:30, rendezvoused with the destroyers and , which were to escort her to Casablanca. The British destroyer and two tugs met the ship at sea, offering to tow "Jean Bart" to Britain, but Ronarc'h declined the offer. "Jean Bart" took on fuel oil at sea from a pair of tankers and at 18:00, she left the area with the two destroyers. While cruising off Lorient the next day, the destroyer relieved "Le Hardi" and the three ships continued on at a speed of . They arrived in Casablanca at 17:00 on 22 June.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: After arriving in Casablanca, "Jean Bart" had most of her anti-aircraft guns removed to strengthen the defenses of the port: the 90 mm and 37 mm guns were moved to the jetties protecting the harbor and two of the six 13.2 mm guns were put on trucks. Following their defeat in the Battle of France, the French signed the Armistice of 22 June 1940, ending their participation in the conflict. During the peace negotiations, the French proposed neutralizing "Jean Bart" and several other ships in Oran, French Algeria, but they ultimately agreed to take "Jean Bart" and "Richelieu" to Toulon to be demobilized. The Germans later decided against permitting the move, as they feared the British would try to seize the ship during the passage through the Strait of Gibraltar; the British, meanwhile, were under the mistaken impression that the Germans sought to seize the French fleet for their own use. This led to Operation Catapult, a series of attacks on French warships to neutralize vessels that would not defect to the Free French.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: The attacks prompted Ronarc'h to take precautions to protect his ship. He ordered the open barbettes for the secondary turrets and the incomplete superfiring turret covered with concrete, and much of the hull was sealed. He moved the ship to shallow water on 11 August. Eleven days later, "CV" Émile Barthes replaced Ronarc'h. In September work to ready the ship for combat as much as could be done with the limited material in Casablanca began. On 7 September, the ship received sixteen 13.2 mm guns and seventeen machine guns, though only one of the latter was actually installed as the light machine guns were of limited use. In 1941, an improvised director was fabricated using a torpedo tube platform removed from the old destroyer as a base for a rangefinder. For navigational purposes, a rangefinder was installed on the conning tower and two more were added to the bridge wings in October.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: The ship's anti-aircraft battery was strengthened in April 1942 with the addition of four 37 mm guns in single mounts and a pair of new twin 90 mm guns. By May, the forward main battery turret had been rendered fully operational and on 19 May, "Jean Bart" conducted test firing. The makeshift director did not work particularly well, so a triangulation system using observers aboard the ship and in two points at Dar Bouazza and Sidi Abderrahman to direct the ship's guns was improvised. Four 37 mm guns in twin mounts were installed in June, along with another pair of 90 mm twin mounts, but three of the four 37 mm single guns were removed. A DEM radar was installed and tests over the following months demonstrated that the set was able to detect aircraft at ranges as far as , but owing to the cluttered harbor facilities around the ship, its abilities to detect surface ships could not be examined. The radar was pronounced ready for service on 6 October. In early November, the ship received a fifth 90 mm twin mount, with a sixth planned; at that time, the anti-aircraft battery consisted of five 90 mm twin mounts, five 37 mm guns (two in twins and one in a single mount), eighteen 13.2 mm guns (two twin and fourteen individual mounts) and one 8 mm machine gun.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: American and British forces embarked on Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa, on 8 November. An American covering force that included the battleship (armed with nine guns), the aircraft carriers and , and three heavy cruisers led the invasion fleet that landed near Casablanca; the Americans hoped the French defenders would quickly surrender and defect to the Free French. A French reconnaissance aircraft detected the fleet at 07:00 that morning, and to oppose the landing, the French had one light cruiser, nine destroyers, and several submarines, in addition to the coastal battery at El Hank and "Jean Bart", which would be employed as a floating battery. Before the French vessels could mount a significant challenge to the invasion, "Massachusetts" and two of the cruisers began bombarding the port while a group of SBD Dauntless dive bombers armed with bombs from "Ranger" struck the ships in the harbor. "Jean Bart" received a pair of bomb hits at 07:18; the first damaged the port catapult, started a fire, and caused the manual steering compartment to flood. The second struck the quay and exploded, the blast causing significant deformation to the hull plating on the starboard side.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: In return, "Jean Bart" fired four two-gun salvos between 07:08 and 07:19, but when the French cruiser and destroyers attempted to sortie, they laid a smoke screen that drifted and blocked observation of the American cruisers. "Massachusetts" then engaged "Jean Bart" and at 07:25, scored a hit that penetrated both of the French ship's armor decks and exploded in the empty magazines for the missing 152 mm guns. Another salvo landed close to "Jean Bart"s bow at 07:35 and deformed the hull plating. Another shell struck the quay a minute later, hurling fragments of concrete that injured anti-aircraft gunners and caused additional flooding. At 07:37, another 406 mm shell hit the ship, passing through the funnel and striking the edge of the armor deck. Another shell struck the edge of the quay, punched the outer plating, and was deflected down by the armor belt. It then passed through the bottom of the hull, burying itself in the sea floor, where it failed to explode. At 08:06, another salvo struck the ship with a pair of shells. The first struck the operational main battery turret, pushing the front glacis down and jamming the turret, and the second hit the superfiring barbette. This shell broke up on impact, but fragments nevertheless damaged the armor deck. One more shell from "Massachusetts" struck the ship at 08:10 on the quarterdeck, where it penetrated the sloped armor deck and exploded in the ballast compartment, causing additional flooding in the steering compartment.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: Despite the numerous shell and bomb hits, "Jean Bart" had not been seriously damaged, though this was unknown to the Americans. Workers quickly cut away the deformed steel that jammed the main battery turret and it was back in operation at 17:24. Only one of the 406 mm shells could have threatened the ship's survival, as an explosion in the 152 mm magazine could have destroyed the vessel had it been full of propellant charges. The next day, the ship's 90 mm guns were used to fire on advancing ground troops, and on 10 November, "Jean Bart"s forward turret engaged the heavy cruiser between 11:41 and 11:51, nearly hitting with her second salvo. Three of her nine two-gun salvos straddled "Augusta", forcing the cruiser to withdraw at high speed and prompting "Ranger" to launch a second air strike on the ship.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: Nine Dauntlesses, this time armed with bombs, and eight F4F Wildcat fighters attacked the ship at 15:00. The fighters strafed "Jean Bart"s anti-aircraft batteries to suppress them for the Dauntless attacks. Two of the bombers scored hits; the first caused extensive damage to the forecastle and the second destroyed a substantial part of the hull toward the stern. Both bombs caused serious fires that were suppressed by 20:00. Extensive flooding led the ship to settle by the stern and submerged the turbo generator room, while shock from the bomb explosions disabled the main diesel generators, leaving the backup diesels as the only source of electrical power. In the course of the engagements with American forces, 22 men had been killed and the same number had been wounded. She had fired just 25 shells from her main battery, but despite the significant damage from the bomb hits on 10 November, her turret remained operational, as were the 90 mm guns, though both batteries were without power.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: French forces in North Africa signed an armistice on 11 November, prompting the Germans to invade the rest of Vichy France, which in turn led François Darlan, the former Chief of Staff of the French Navy, to defect to the Allies with the rest of the fleet. Repair work to make the ship seaworthy had already begun on 11 November, and by 15 February 1943, the outboard turbines were in service and manual steering controls had been repaired. Admiral Raymond Fenard, the head of the French naval mission to the US, requested that the US Navy take the ship to the United States to be repaired and completed, as they had begun to do with "Richelieu". Fenard issued a report to the US Vice Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Frederick J. Horne, on 15 April detailing the status of "Jean Bart", but Horne replied on 1 May that the ship could not be completed to her original specifications. Five days later, the US Navy agreed that the ship would be taken to the United States in September, which necessitated repairs to the steering motors.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: The Free French "Service Central des Constructions et Armes Navales" (Central Naval Technical Department) created two proposals to complete the ship with as few alterations from her current state as possible; both involved replacing the 380 mm guns with guns from the old battleship , since "Jean Bart"s guns were needed to replace the damaged guns aboard "Richelieu". The first variant called for the quarterdeck to be modified to carry two large catapults capable of launching American TBF Avenger or British Fairey Barracuda torpedo bombers and F6F Hellcat or Supermarine Seafire fighters. The total complement was to be six aircraft. In place of the superfiring main turret, three secondary turrets, and the 90 mm mounts, she would receive thirty /38 caliber dual-purpose guns in fifteen twin turrets. These would be supplemented by sixty-four Bofors guns in quadruple mounts and fifty Oerlikon cannon in single mounts. New fire control equipment was to be installed, including US-built directors and a Mk 4 fire control radar. The second proposal was less ambitious; the aircraft facilities were abandoned in favor of seventeen twin 5 in turrets, while the 40 mm battery would be increased to twenty quadruple mounts.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: Horne rejected both proposals on 18 August and Fenard responded with a proposal to complete the ship as an aircraft carrier, which Horne also refused. On 8 December, Fenard appealed directly to Horne's superior, Admiral Ernest King, the Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations, but King informed Fenard in March 1944 that the US Navy had no interest in diverting critical wartime resources to complete the ship. By that time in the war, the US Navy had more than enough battleships and aircraft carriers to fulfill its operational needs and moreover, American shipyards could not easily reproduce the parts necessary to complete the ship according to any of the proposals; the US had only agreed to repair and modernize "Richelieu", which had been in a more complete state than "Jean Bart", after significant pressure from Britain. "Jean Bart" instead remained in Casablanca, where Free French authorities had already set about readying the ship for sea.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: Options to complete the ship without US assistance were limited; the scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon in November 1942 wrecked much of the shipyard facilities, and Brest would not be liberated until September 1944. The French inquired about the possibility of taking the ship to Gibraltar, but the shipyard there was overwhelmed with more critical projects. Nevertheless, the shipyard workers in Casablanca had readied the ship for sea trials by September 1943. During these operations, she was accompanied by the destroyers and and three US destroyers. Though her hull was still badly deformed from the damage incurred during Operation Torch and had not been cleaned of biofouling, she reached a speed of . For the remainder of the war, the vessel was used as a training ship.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: With the end of the war in sight by early 1945, the French naval command began to make plans for the postwar fleet. On 22 February, they decided that "Jean Bart" would be completed, but there was no consensus as to how the ship was to be finished. One faction, including Fenard as well as Admirals Pierre Barjot and Louis Kahn (the latter being the Chief of Naval Construction), advocated converting the ship into an aircraft carrier, while others argued that the ship should be completed as a battleship. A third group suggested scrapping the ship and focusing on other projects. In July, Kahn prepared a proposal that would have produced a carrier with a capacity of forty aircraft (and fourteen spares), armed with a battery of sixteen anti-aircraft guns in twin mounts, and protected with an armored flight deck that was 90 mm thick. Displacement was fixed at . The project would have cost 5 billion francs and taken five years to complete, which caused considerable opposition in the naval command, including Fenard. They objected to the cost and delays, along with the fact that the number of aircraft was half that of contemporary American and British carriers.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: With the fate of the ship still in question, she left Casablanca on 25 August, bound for Cherbourg, which she reached four days later. At a meeting on 21 September, the naval command ruled out discarding the vessel. Given the objections to the aircraft carrier conversion, the construction department drew up estimates for how long it would take to manufacture the necessary 380 mm gun barrels, rebuild the superfiring turret, and stockpile the necessary munitions for the guns; the resulting figures projected that it would take four years to complete the vessel and another year to manufacture the shells and charges. The decision was made to finish "Jean Bart" along the same lines as "Richelieu", albeit with improved anti-aircraft defenses. The naval historians John Jordan and Robert Dumas note that despite criticisms from officers of the French naval air arm, "there can be no doubt that the decision against a carrier conversion was correct in that it would have resulted in a ship which was poor value for the effort and expenditure involved."


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: "Jean Bart" was then moved to Brest, where she was dry-docked for repairs to her hull that began on 11 March 1946. During this period, her propulsion system was also completed, her main and secondary turrets were installed, and her superstructure was modified for the new radar and fire control equipment that would be later installed. Work on the hull was completed on 26 November 1947, which allowed her to be moved from the dry dock to the fitting-out quay. There, further modifications were made to the superstructure and the guns for her primary and secondary turrets were installed. Thereafter followed another stint in the dry dock from 20 March to 9 October 1948, which involved the installation of bulges to the lower hull and her propeller shafts were repaired. Initial testing of her propulsion machinery began on 4 December, followed by full tests that began in January 1949. She then conducted gunnery tests, and in May, she was assigned to the "Groupe des bâtiments de ligne" (Battleship Group) with "Richelieu", though the unit was disbanded in 1950.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: "Jean Bart" participated in training exercises with the fleet off the coast of North Africa in May and June 1950. She spent the next several months in Brest, and in early 1951 resumed initial training. She went to Le Havre in May to have a degaussing system installed, followed by further training cruises and tests to determine fuel consumption in June. By 7 July, she had returned to the fitting-out quay in Brest for additional work. The ship's main and secondary batteries were by now operational, and her propulsion system was complete, though she still lacked her anti-aircraft battery and fire control equipment. Beginning in November the shipyard embarked on the next phase modernization program, which included the installation of the anti-aircraft guns, modifying the 152 mm turrets to convert them to dual-purpose guns, and the fitting of fire control equipment. The new anti-aircraft battery consisted of twelve 100 mm guns in twin mounts and twenty-eight guns. At the same time, her main battery turrets were deactivated for preservation while work continued on the ship.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: Work on the ship's anti-aircraft battery proceeded very slowly. The 100 mm guns were installed by mid-1952, but the directors for the 100 mm guns were not installed until May 1953, permitting test firings of the guns in July. The tests revealed the need for extensive modifications to the systems that were finally complete in October 1954. The 57 mm guns were even more delayed, with the guns not ready for tests until September 1955, though their optical directors were not fitted until August 1956. The period of work between 1951 and 1956 was interrupted by numerous sea trials to evaluate the vessel as each new type of equipment was installed. By the time work on the ship was completed, she had been fitted with a variety of radar sets, including a DRBV 11 air/surface search radar, a DRBV 20 air search radar, and a DRBV 30 navigational radar. Fire control radars included a DRBC 10A set for the main battery, six ACAE sets for the heavy anti-aircraft battery and five DRBC 30B sets for the light anti-aircraft guns. Her normal displacement had risen to , with full-load displacement at . With the greater weight of the ship, draft increased to .


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: She was finally pronounced complete on 1 May 1955, and that month she embarked President René Coty for a visit to Denmark, escorted by the destroyer . After returning from the cruise, which also included a visit to Oslo, Norway, she left in July to represent France at a celebration in New York of the 175th anniversary of the landing of French soldiers led by the Comte de Rochambeau during the American Revolutionary War. She thereafter conducted a series of training cruises off the coast of Brittany in August and September before transferring to the Mediterranean in October. She arrived in Toulon on 17 October, and four days later, "Jean Bart" replaced "Richelieu" as the flagship of the training squadron.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: "Jean Bart" spent late 1955 and early 1956 in port and conducting gunnery training in Les Salins d'Hyères. For the first and last time of either of their careers, "Richelieu" and "Jean Bart" cruised together on 30 January 1956. In June 1956, "Jean Bart" went on a tour of French North Africa. As tensions with Egypt over the control of the Suez Canal flared in 1956, the decision was made on 8 July to deploy the ship to Egypt. "Jean Bart"s superfiring turret was reactivated in August and on 7 September, she conducted shooting practice with the turret in company with the cruiser off the coast of North Africa.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: She thereafter deployed with the French Naval Intervention Force during the Suez Crisis, Operation Mousquetaire, though with only her superfiring turret in operation. During the operations off the canal zone, she carried a complement of 1,280 officers and men, despite the fact that her projected wartime crew amounted to 2,220. This meant that only half of her anti-aircraft guns could be manned. The ship departed Toulon on 26 October and steamed first to Algiers, French Algeria, where from 29 to 31 October, the 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment and Commando Hubert frogmen unit came aboard the ship. "Jean Bart" then joined the rest of the intervention force, which included the carriers and , "Georges Leygues", the destroyers "Surcouf", , , and , and an anti-submarine warfare group. The ships left on 1 November and reached Limassol, Cyprus on the 4th, where the paratroopers and frogmen transferred to amphibious assault ships. On 5 November, "Jean Bart" steamed south to bombard Port Said, but she fired only four rounds from her main battery before the landing was cancelled. She remained off the city for two more days before departing on the 7th and returning to Toulon by way of Limassol on 13 November.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: On 1 December, "Jean Bart" returned to the training squadron. Her last period at sea took place from 11 to 19 July 1957; this was also the last time she fired her main battery. On 1 August, she was reduced to reserve status, despite the reluctance of many in the naval command to see the funds and effort expended in completing the ship be wasted. By this time, a new generation of post-war cruisers and destroyers were beginning to enter service, leading to significant crew shortages. Coupled with the cost of maintaining "Jean Bart" in service, the need to release the manpower tied up in the ship for more useful vessels led to her withdrawal from active service after just two years. The navy considered a number of modernization proposals to improve the ship's anti-aircraft battery or add guided missiles. The latter concept involved five different variants that ranged from adding missile launchers with 24–44 missiles to the quarterdeck to removing the main battery turrets and reconstructing the forward part of the ship to house a large missile battery with as many as 325 missiles. Alternatively, an air-defense missile armament for testing purposes was considered; this would have involved removing the centerline 152 mm turret and replacing it with a launcher for the American RIM-2 Terrier missile. The 152 mm turret would be retained for re-installation once the evaluation period was over.


title: French battleship Jean Bart (1940)

text: None of the modernization or conversion projects came to fruition, and the missile batteries that involved removing the 380 mm turrets were not even seriously considered by the high command. In August 1957, the vessel was reduced to a barracks ship, and on 1 January 1961 her reserve status was downgraded. Some consideration was given in 1964 to reactivate the vessel for use as a command ship during a series of nuclear experiments in the Pacific Ocean, but it was determined that the cost would have been too high, thus the cruiser was used instead. The ship remained laid up until 10 February 1970 when she was struck from the naval register, renamed "Q466", and placed for sale. The vessel was sold to ship breakers on 21 May, towed to Brégaillon, and dismantled for scrap. Though she never became fully operational, "Jean Bart" nevertheless proved to be a useful test bed for a variety of new French anti-aircraft guns and radars.


title: Sasol

text: Sasol Limited is an integrated energy and chemical company based in Sandton, South Africa. The company was formed in 1950 in Sasolburg, South Africa and built on processes that were first developed by German chemists and engineers in the early 1900s (see coal liquefaction). Today, Sasol develops and commercializes technologies, including synthetic fuels technologies, and produces different liquid fuels, chemicals, nuclear, coal tar and electricity.


title: Sasol

text: Sasol is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE: SOL) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: SSL). Major shareholders include the South African Government Employees Pension Fund, Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa Limited (IDC), Allan Gray Investment Counsel, Coronation Fund Managers, Ninety One, and others. Sasol employs 30,100 people worldwide and has operations in 33 countries. It is the largest corporate taxpayer in South Africa and the seventh largest coal mining company in the world.


title: Sasol

text: South Africa has large deposits of coal, which had low commercial value due to its high fly ash content. If this coal could be used to produce synthetic oil, petrol, and diesel fuel, it perhaps would have significant benefit to South Africa. In the 1920s, South African scientists started looking at the possibility of using coal as a source of liquid fuels. This work was pioneered by P. N. Lategan, working for the Transvaal Coal Owners Association. He completed his doctoral thesis from the Imperial College of Science in London on "The Low-Temperature Carbonisation of South African Coal". In 1927, a white paper from the government was issued describing various oil-from-coal processes being used overseas and their potential for South Africa. In the 1930s, a young scientist named Etienne Rousseau obtained a Master of Science from the University of Stellenbosch. His thesis was entitled "The Sulfur Content of Coals and Oil Shales". Rousseau became Sasol's first managing director. After World War II, Anglovaal bought the rights to a method of using the Fischer–Tropsch process patented by M. W. Kellogg Limited, and in 1950, Sasol was formally incorporated as the South African Coal, Oil, and Gas Corporation (from the Afrikaans of which the present name is derived: "Suid-Afrikaanse Steenkool-, Olie- en Gas Maatskappy"), a state-owned company. Commissioning of the Sasol 1 site for the production of synfuels started in 1954. Construction of the Sasol 2 site was completed in 1980, with the Sasol 3 site coming on stream in 1982. The Zevenfontein farm house served as Sasol's first offices and is still in existence today.


title: Sasol

text: To support the required economies of scale for coal-to-liquids (CTL) process to be economical and competitive with crude oil, all stages of the operations, from coal mining to the Fischer–Tropsch process and product work up must be run with great efficiency. Due to the complexity of the Lurgi gasifers used, the quality of the coal was paramount. The initial annual output from the Sigma underground mine in Sasolburg was 2 million tons. Annual coal production from this mine peaked in 1991 at 7.4 million tons. Today, most of the gasifiers in Sasolburg have been replaced with autothermal reformers that feed natural gas piped from Mozambique. Natural gas generates about 40–60% less carbon dioxide for the same energy produced as coal, thus is significantly more environmentally friendly. Gas-to-liquids technology converts natural gas, predominantly methane to liquid fuels.


title: Sasol

text: Today, Sasol mines more than 40 million tons (Mt) of saleable coal a year, mostly gasification feedstock for Sasol Synfuels in Secunda. Sasol Mining also exports some 2.8 Mt of coal a year. This amounts to roughly 22% of all the coal mined in South Africa. Underground mining operations continue in the Secunda area (Bosjesspruit, Brandspruit, Middelbult, Syferfontein, and Twistdraai collieries) and Sigma: Mooikraal colliery near Sasolburg. As some of these mines are nearing the end of their useful lives, a R14bn mine replacement program has been undertaken. The first of the new mines is the R3.4bn Thubelisha shaft, which will eventually be an operation delivering more than 8M tons/annum (mtpa) of coal over 25 years. The Impumelelo mine, which will replace the Brandspruit operation, is set for first production in 2015. It will be ramped up to produce 8.5 mtpa, and can later be upgraded to supplying some 10.5 mtpa. This coal will be used exclusively by the Sasol Synfuels plant. An underground extension of the Middelbult mine is also on the cards, with the main shaft and incline shaft being replaced by the Shondoni shaft. The first coal from the new complex was expected to be delivered in 2015.


title: Sasol

text: In conjunction with the continuous improvement in the Fischer–Tropsch process and catalyst, significant developments were also made in mining technology. Coal mining at Sasol from the early days has been characterised by innovation. Sasol Mining mainly uses the room and pillar method of mining with a continuous miner. Sasol successfully used the longwall mining method from 1967 to 1987. Today, Sasol is one of the leaders in coal-mining technology and was the first to develop in-seam drilling from surface using a directional drilling methodology. This has been developed into an effective exploration tool.


title: Sasol

text: Working with Fifth Dimension, Sasol developed a virtual reality technology to help train continuous miner operators in a 3D environment in which various scenarios can be simulated, including sound, dust and other signs of movement. This has recently been expanded to include shuttle car, roof-bolting, and load-haul dumper simulators.


title: Sasol

text: The initial reactors from Kellogg and Lurgi gasifiers were tricky and expensive to operate. The original reactor design in 1955 was a circulating fluidised bed reactor (CFBR) with a capacity of about 1,500 barrels per day. Sasol improved these reactors to eventually yield about 6,500 barrels per day. The CFBR design involves moving the whole catalyst bed around the reactor, which is energy intensive and not efficient as most of the catalyst is not in the reaction zone. Sasol then developed fixed fluidized bed (FFB) reactors in which the catalyst particles were held in a fixed reaction zone. This resulted in a significant increase in reactor capacities. For example, the first FFB reactors commercialised in 1990 (5 m diameter) had a capacity of about 3,000 barrels per day, while the design in 2000 (10.7m diameter) had a capacity of 20,000 barrels per day. Further advancements in reactor engineering have resulted on the development and commercialisation of Sasol Slurry Phase Distillate (SSPD) reactors which are the cornerstone of Sasol's first of a kind GTL plant in Qatar.


title: Sasol

text: The fuel price is directly linked to the oil price, so is subject to potentially large fluctuations. With Sasol only producing fuels, this meant that its profitability was largely governed by external macroeconomic forces over which it had no control. How could Sasol be less susceptible to the oil price? The answer was right in front of them, in the treasure chest of chemicals co-produced in the Fischer–Tropsch process. Chemicals have a higher value per ton of product than fuels.


title: Sasol

text: In the 1960s ammonia, styrene, and butadiene became the first chemical intermediates sold by Sasol. The ammonia was then used to make fertilizers. By 1964, Sasol was a major player in the nitrogenous fertilizer market. This product range was further extended in the 1980s to include both phosphate- and potassium-based fertilizers. Sasol now sells an extensive range of fertilizers and explosives to local and international markets, and is a world leader in its low-density ammonium nitrate technology.


title: Sasol

text: With the extraction of chemicals from its Fischer–Tropsch product slate coupled with downstream functionalization and on-purpose chemical production facilities, Sasol moved from being just a South African fuels company to become an international integrated energy and chemicals company with over 200 chemical products being sold worldwide. Some of the main products produced are diesel, petrol (gasoline), naphtha, kerosene (jet fuel), liquid petroleum gas (LPG), olefins, alcohols, polymers, solvents, surfactants (detergent alcohols and oil-field chemicals), co-monomers, ammonia, methanol, various phenolics, sulphur, illuminating paraffin, bitumen, acrylates, and fuel oil. These products are used in the production process of numerous everyday products made worldwide and benefit the lives of millions of people around the world. They include hot-melt adhesives, car products, microchip coatings, printing ink, household and industrial paints, mobile phones, circuit boards, transport fuels, compact discs, medical lasers, sun creams, perfumes and plastic bottles.


title: Sasol

text: In South Africa, the chemical businesses are integrated in the Fischer–Tropsch value chain. Outside South Africa, the company operates chemical businesses based on backward integration into feedstock and/or competitive market positions for example in Europe, Asia, and the United States.


title: Sasol

text: Sasol's Secunda CTL plant is as of 2020 the world's largest single emitter of greenhouse gas, at 56.5 million tonnes CO2 a year. However, if Afşin-Elbistan C power station in Turkey is built and operated at planned capacity it would emit over 60 million tonnes a year.


title: Sasol

text: Air Liquide acquired the 42,000 tons/day oxygen production in 2020, with plans for 900 MW power plants to reduce CO2 emissions.


title: Sasol

text: According to independent researchers, Secunda “produces without doubt the most polluting liquid fuels in the world,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst for the Centre for Energy Research and Clean Air, an independent research body. “The most alarming part is that Sasol is delaying and opposing South Africa’s new air pollutant emissions standards that would more than halve the health impacts of industrial emissions.”


title: Sasol

text: Sasol has exploration, development, production, marketing and sales operations in 31 countries across the world, including Southern Africa, the rest of Africa, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East (West Asia), Russia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Oceania.


title: Sasol

text: The Sasol group structure is organised into two upstream business units, three regional operating hubs and four customer-facing strategic business units.


title: Sasol

text: Operating Business Units comprise the mining division and exploration and production of oil and gas activities, focused on feedstock supply.


title: Sasol

text: Sasol Mining operates six coal mines that supply feed-stock for Secunda (Sasol Synfuels) and Sasolburg (Sasolburg Operations) complexes in South Africa. While the coal supplied to Sasol Synfuels is mainly used as gasification feedstock, some is used to generate electricity. The coal supplied to the Sasolburg Operations is used to generate electricity and steam. Coal is also exported from the Twistdraai Export Plant to international power generation customers.


title: Sasol

text: Sasol Exploration and Production International (SEPI) develops and manages the group's upstream interests in oil and gas exploration and production in Mozambique, South Africa, Canada, Gabon and Australia.


title: Sasol

text: The Southern African Operations business cluster is responsible for Sasol's entire Southern Africa operations portfolio, which comprises all downstream operations and related infrastructure in the region. This combined operational portfolio has simplified and consolidated responsibilities relating to the company's operating facilities in Secunda, which are divided into a synthetic fuels and chemicals component, Sasolburg, Natref, Sasol's joint-venture inland refinery with TotalEnergies, and Satellite Operations, a consolidation of all Sasol's operating activities outside of Secunda and Sasolburg.


title: Sasol

text: The International Operations business cluster is responsible for Sasol's international operations in Eurasia and North America, which include its US mega-projects in Lake Charles, Louisiana.


title: Sasol

text: The energy business manages the marketing and sales of all oil, gas and electricity products in Southern Africa, which have been consolidated under a single umbrella. In addition, this cluster oversees Sasol's international GTL (gas to liquids) ventures in Qatar, Nigeria and Uzbekistan.


title: Sasol

text: The global chemicals business includes the marketing and sales of all chemical products, both in southern Africa and internationally. The chemicals business is divided into two niche groupings; Base Chemicals, where its fertilisers, polymers and solvents products lie, and performance chemicals, comprising key products which include surfactants, surfactant intermediates, fatty alcohols, linear alkyl benzene (LAB), short-chain linear alpha olefins, ethylene, petrolatum, paraffin waxes, synthetic waxes, cresylic acids, high-quality carbon solutions as well as high-purity and ultra-high-purity alumina and a speciality gases sub-division.


title: Sasol

text: In South Africa, the chemical businesses are integrated in the Fischer–Tropsch value chain. Outside South Africa, the chemical businesses are operated based on backward integration into feedstock and/or competitive market positions.


title: Sasol

text: Group Technology manages the research and development, technology innovation and management, engineering services and capital project management portfolios. Group Technology includes Research and Technology (R&T), Engineering and Project Services and Capital Projects.


title: Sasol

text: Sasol has granted final approval for a US$11 billion ethane cracker and derivatives plant near Westlake and the community of Mossville, both across the Calcasieu River from Lake Charles, Louisiana, and is the largest foreign investment in the history of the State of Louisiana. It was stated "Once commissioned, this world-scale petrochemicals complex will roughly triple the company's chemical production capacity in the United States, enabling Sasol to further strengthen its position in a growing global chemicals market. The U.S. Gulf Coast's robust infrastructure for transporting and storing abundant, low-cost ethane was a key driver in the decision to invest in America". The ethane cracker will also be supported by six chemical manufacturing plants.


title: Sasol

text: By January 2015 construction was in full swing. At peak the project will create 5000 construction and 1200 permanent jobs and cost $11 billion to $14 billion.


title: Sasol

text: The Oryx GTL plant in Qatar is a joint venture between Sasol and QatarEnergy, launched in 2007. The more than plant produces a combination of GTL diesel, GTL naphtha and liquid petroleum gas.


title: Sasol

text: The proposed Uzbekistan GTL project is a partnership between Sasol, Uzbekneftegaz and Petronas. Sasol reconsidered its involvement in March 2016


title: Sasol

text: Sasol is developing a 140 MW gas-fired electricity generation plant in partnership with power utility EDM. This gas project came into operation in 2004, and is a joint venture agreement between Sasol Petroleum International, Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH), and the International Finance Corporation.


title: Sasol

text: The Sasol slurry phase distillate process (SPDTM) transforms natural gas into energy and chemical products, including transport fuels, base oils, waxes, paraffins and naphtha. The three-stage process combines three proprietary technologies. Natural gas is combined with oxygen to form a syngas which is then subjected to a Fischer–Tropsch process conversion, resulting in waxy synthetic crude. Finally, this is cracked down to produce the end product.


title: Sasol

text: The strength of the process is not simply in the inherent quality of the three component technologies but more importantly how they are combined and integrated to increase efficiencies and optimise output. The liquid fuels produced through Sasol's GTL and CTL technologies are high-performance, low-emission products. The synthetic GTL-based diesel is an environmentally cleaner burning fuel as it leads to a reduction in carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon and particulate matter without compromising NOx emissions even when compared to European sulfur-free diesel.


title: Sasol

text: A high-temperature syngas conversion process is operated in Secunda in a series of 10 Sasol advanced Synthol (SASTM) reactors at high pressure with the aid of an iron-based Fischer–Tropsch process catalyst at about 350 °C to yield primarily C – C range hydrocarbons. The process also produces water and oxygenated hydrocarbons which are then purified and marketed. The C stream is split into ethylene and ethane. The ethane is further cracked to yield additional ethylene which are then converted into polyethylene for the polymer business. Propylene from Secunda and Sasolburg plants are also converted into high-value products such as polypropylene, butanol, butyl acrylate and ethyle acrylate. The acrylates are used to make superabsorbent polymers which are used in diapers. Through proprietary technology 1-hexene, 1-octene and 1-pentene are recovered from the oil stream. International customers use these as co-monomers for making speciality grade polymers. Some of the higher olefins (C – C) are converted into detergent-range alcohols.


title: Sasol

text: A low-temperature syngas conversion process is operated in Sasolburg based on an iron-based catalyst in fixed-bed tubular and Sasol SPDTM processes to produce mainly linear hydrocarbon waxes and paraffins. The syngas (mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide) is also converted in methanol, butanol and ammonia. Ammonia is then converted into nitric acid and ammonium-based fertilizers and explosives.