Mining in Africa?

[SniX030]

Are there still compnys mining in africa?
I think it would be a good investment to built up a mining farm there.

Do you know any infos about that? What do you think?


Imagine big solar stations in the Sahara for mining Bitcoins 

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[italianMiner72]

Are there still compnys mining in africa?
I think it would be a good investment to built up a mining farm there.

Do you know any infos about that? What do you think?


Imagine big solar stations in the Sahara for mining Bitcoins 

this is a good idea..
but really, Do you think anyone has already thought about this idea?
For planning thatm you need to know low of african states... not the same of your state for sure...
and then you need to buy, a Land ownership, then you need to find workers who are able to install a photovoltaic plant...
In short, not easy things!

[ahmedjamal1998]

Are there still compnys mining in africa?
I think it would be a good investment to built up a mining farm there.

Do you know any infos about that? What do you think?


Imagine big solar stations in the Sahara for mining Bitcoins 

Hmm ok this seems really interesting in the means of free electricity but there's one very important factor that you have just ignored.

HEAT.
Africa = more heat.

Which means MUCH more cooling required than you can imagine. Mining rigs run at 50 degree celsius in cold regions what about in desert !!

OH yes energy is free but to provide what is enough for air conditioners to cool down in the red hot desert, you'll simply need millions and millions spent in solar panels.

IN short (my opinion) : Not a good idea.

[HagssFIN]

Building solar power in Sahara is a BIG MONEY project.
And there is several challenges to come over with, heat and sand for example.

It would be cool though to see big ass solar power plant in Sahara and HVDC (high-voltage direct current) connection to power big part of the world  

[coolcoinz]

Hmm ok this seems really interesting in the means of free electricity but there's one very important factor that you have just ignored.

HEAT.
Africa = more heat.

Which means MUCH more cooling required than you can imagine. Mining rigs run at 50 degree celsius in cold regions what about in desert !!

OH yes energy is free but to provide what is enough for air conditioners to cool down in the red hot desert, you'll simply need millions and millions spent in solar panels.

IN short (my opinion) : Not a good idea.

It could pay off. He'd have to do the calculations of course, but If I were to attempt it I'd dig a hole to place the mine below the sand level, like a basement and used the sand as an insulator.
Nights in the desert are very cold so all you have to do is to open all vents and push cold air through the compound to cool down the walls and then close the vents and circulate the air inside until it gets   too hot at which point you'd start up the AC. In good conditions it would run all night without AC, then at closed circulation for another 6 hours until noon and past noon on AC.

[SniX030]

No way to use the heat for energy?

[NotFuzzyWarm]

No way to use the heat for energy?

A low percentage of energy from the waste heat *could be* recovered. Highly doubt more than maybe 2-5% at best.
TINFL -- There Is No Free Lunch

[Amph]

No way to use the heat for energy?

only with solar panel yes, you would get the best exposure there, still not enough to make it worth the investment, and the cooling required to cool down the gpu would be enormous

but the good thing about africa is that they have a very low energy cost, some country like egypt and kuwait sit on 1 cent electricity, this can allow a small mining operation, but i guess they would prefer gpu mining anyway...

[lockept93]

Hmm the cooling is problary the one think that makes a problem, right?
I hear in the night it's very cold in desserts, so we have to run the miners in night 

[stompix]

Hmm ok this seems really interesting in the means of free electricity but there's one very important factor that you have just ignored.

HEAT.
Africa = more heat.

Which means MUCH more cooling required than you can imagine. Mining rigs run at 50 degree celsius in cold regions what about in desert !!

OH yes energy is free but to provide what is enough for air conditioners to cool down in the red hot desert, you'll simply need millions and millions spent in solar panels.

IN short (my opinion) : Not a good idea.

It could pay off. He'd have to do the calculations of course, but If I were to attempt it I'd dig a hole to place the mine below the sand level, like a basement and used the sand as an insulator.
Nights in the desert are very cold so all you have to do is to open all vents and push cold air through the compound to cool down the walls and then close the vents and circulate the air inside until it gets   too hot at which point you'd start up the AC. In good conditions it would run all night without AC, then at closed circulation for another 6 hours until noon and past noon on AC.

People tend to avoid building stuff in sand, I wonder why?
Because you might end with your entire structure covered in sand, because you will have thousands of problems with the foundation, because etc.

You realize that this entire scenario of pushing air around will cost you a lot of electricity....guess when?
AT NIGHT!!!

See the problem? You'll need a whole array of batteries for this , plus the batteries to keep the miners running.

Also... dust , a lot of dust.
Not that friendly to equipment.

[SniX030]

Hmm ok this seems really interesting in the means of free electricity but there's one very important factor that you have just ignored.

HEAT.
Africa = more heat.

Which means MUCH more cooling required than you can imagine. Mining rigs run at 50 degree celsius in cold regions what about in desert !!

OH yes energy is free but to provide what is enough for air conditioners to cool down in the red hot desert, you'll simply need millions and millions spent in solar panels.

IN short (my opinion) : Not a good idea.

It could pay off. He'd have to do the calculations of course, but If I were to attempt it I'd dig a hole to place the mine below the sand level, like a basement and used the sand as an insulator.
Nights in the desert are very cold so all you have to do is to open all vents and push cold air through the compound to cool down the walls and then close the vents and circulate the air inside until it gets   too hot at which point you'd start up the AC. In good conditions it would run all night without AC, then at closed circulation for another 6 hours until noon and past noon on AC.

People tend to avoid building stuff in sand, I wonder why?
Because you might end with your entire structure covered in sand, because you will have thousands of problems with the foundation, because etc.

You realize that this entire scenario of pushing air around will cost you a lot of electricity....guess when?
AT NIGHT!!!

See the problem? You'll need a whole array of batteries for this , plus the batteries to keep the miners running.

Also... dust , a lot of dust.
Not that friendly to equipment.

I guess we have to move to the antarctis. 

[lottery248]

Africa is as hot as desert AFAIK, so if you have a certain amount of solar panel and sufficient maintenance ability, you can mine bitcoin there for almost free, excluding the costs of buying the mining equipment. FYI there are frequent thunderstorms, gotta harvest them then you will benefit the poverty in the Africa; no mining company in Africa AFAIK so please be aware of it.

[Amph]

Hmm the cooling is problary the one think that makes a problem, right?
I hear in the night it's very cold in desserts, so we have to run the miners in night  

i would run the miners in an undergorund basement if i were in africa, the more deep this underground is the better, you would reduce greatly the heat and the cooling needed

Africa is as hot as desert AFAIK, so if you have a certain amount of solar panel and sufficient maintenance ability, you can mine bitcoin there for almost free, excluding the costs of buying the mining equipment. FYI there are frequent thunderstorms, gotta harvest them then you will benefit the poverty in the Africa; no mining company in Africa AFAIK so please be aware of it.

free isn't the right work, because you know those solar panel aren't free unless you stole them somewhere

the problem for those poor people is exactly the initial investment, it's the reaosn why the majority don't mine, because the initial capital it's an huge wall that onyl few can overcome

[leowonderful]

Hmm the cooling is problary the one think that makes a problem, right?
I hear in the night it's very cold in desserts, so we have to run the miners in night  

i would run the miners in an undergorund basement if i were in africa, the more deep this underground is the better, you would reduce greatly the heat and the cooling needed

Africa is as hot as desert AFAIK, so if you have a certain amount of solar panel and sufficient maintenance ability, you can mine bitcoin there for almost free, excluding the costs of buying the mining equipment. FYI there are frequent thunderstorms, gotta harvest them then you will benefit the poverty in the Africa; no mining company in Africa AFAIK so please be aware of it.

free isn't the right work, because you know those solar panel aren't free unless you stole them somewhere

the problem for those poor people is exactly the initial investment, it's the reaosn why the majority don't mine, because the initial capital it's an huge wall that onyl few can overcome

Like the second reason you just said, it'd also take capital to mine out enough ground for the basement and also get people to work for you. IIRC some farm in Labrador died because the owner underestimated the cost of labor as well, so you have that going for you. Of course labor in Africa will be cheaper than in Canada but it's yet another factor which will have to be added into the mix.

[Idrisu]

Building solar power in Sahara is a BIG MONEY project.
And there is several challenges to come over with, heat and sand for example.

It would be cool though to see big ass solar power plant in Sahara and HVDC (high-voltage direct current) connection to power big part of the world  

with solar power and good mining tools one can easily become rich in Africa. In Africa, the only and major problems I think they have is knowledge on how to mine. Setting up a good mining farms, power by solar energy in Niger and northern part of Nigeria like Adamawa and Maiduguri will be seriously profitable. This will even eliminated most of the unemployment problem Africa is facing.

[stompix]

Building solar power in Sahara is a BIG MONEY project.
And there is several challenges to come over with, heat and sand for example.

It would be cool though to see big ass solar power plant in Sahara and HVDC (high-voltage direct current) connection to power big part of the world  

with solar power and good mining tools one can easily become rich in Africa. In Africa, the only and major problems I think they have is knowledge on how to mine. Setting up a good mining farms, power by solar energy in Niger and northern part of Nigeria like Adamawa and Maiduguri will be seriously profitable. This will even eliminated most of the unemployment problem Africa is facing.

Haha, bitcoin mining is going to eliminate unemployment in Africa.
This is a good one.

Nigeria alone  has an unemployment rate of around 13%.
That is a little more than 15 million people.

How are you going to solve unemployment in Nigeria alone not counting other countries by mining?

[c0inHnt3r]

Its definitely possible but you would need to think about security, infrastructure, Internet stability, and government stability. Possible but quite a challenge.

[coolcoinz]

People tend to avoid building stuff in sand, I wonder why?
Because you might end with your entire structure covered in sand, because you will have thousands of problems with the foundation, because etc.

You realize that this entire scenario of pushing air around will cost you a lot of electricity....guess when?
AT NIGHT!!!

See the problem? You'll need a whole array of batteries for this , plus the batteries to keep the miners running.

Also... dust , a lot of dust.
Not that friendly to equipment.

With temperatures close to 0*C at night you'll need one decent low RPM circulation fan to do it. Hot air will escape by itself as it tends to go up. I guess it would consume less than a single miner and much less than an AC unit.
The unstable ground  can be dealt with by hammering concrete pillars deep into the sand. That's what they do when building bridges on unstable river beds.
Dust can be managed by air filters. Most data centers have them.

Now, the reality is that although it's possible it's not worth it. The filters would require constant cleaning. The structure would need air ducts to be placed far above the roof, like chimneys, so they wouldn't get covered during sand storms. The same storms would cover the panels with sand so that would have to be checked and cleaned. There are much better sunny places to choose, like Arizona.

[stompix]

People tend to avoid building stuff in sand, I wonder why?
Because you might end with your entire structure covered in sand, because you will have thousands of problems with the foundation, because etc.

You realize that this entire scenario of pushing air around will cost you a lot of electricity....guess when?
AT NIGHT!!!

See the problem? You'll need a whole array of batteries for this , plus the batteries to keep the miners running.

Also... dust , a lot of dust.
Not that friendly to equipment.

With temperatures close to 0*C at night you'll need one decent low RPM circulation fan to do it. Hot air will escape by itself as it tends to go up. I guess it would consume less than a single miner and much less than an AC unit.
The unstable ground  can be dealt with by hammering concrete pillars deep into the sand. That's what they do when building bridges on unstable river beds.
Dust can be managed by air filters. Most data centers have them.

Now, the reality is that although it's possible it's not worth it. The filters would require constant cleaning. The structure would need air ducts to be placed far above the roof, like chimneys, so they wouldn't get covered during sand storms. The same storms would cover the panels with sand so that would have to be checked and cleaned. There are much better sunny places to choose, like Arizona.

No, you can't hammer pillars in sand. No matter how deep you do.
It's known that large sand dunes can move during storms even if they are 20-30 meters tall.

You will need those pillars anchored in a rock bed to have a chance of survival in a storm.

And that cost alone would put your mining business in red.
Just imagine how cheap you will have to get your electricity bill (solar is not free , it requires an initial investment) to offset construction cost that might be close to 500 or 1000 per square meter.

People will stick to a much nicer climate even if it means to forsake 2-3 hours of sun a day.
Also, I think is fair most expensive to run the cooling 12 hours at 40 degrees rather than 12 hours at 30 degrees and 12 more at 10 degrees.

[lockept93]

The saudis built snowboard halls into the dessert - so everything is possible. 

[ololajulo]

For now It cant ever be profitable in Africa? Not even with the erratic power supply and cost