Gold And Diamonds In South Africa

South africa table of contents.

Gold and diamonds in south africa. South randfontein 1764 sa. Immigration urbanization capital investment and labour migrancy. Savuka gold mine is the third deepest mine in the world reaching depths of close to 4km. South africa south africa gold mining.

Prospectors established in 1886 the existence of a belt of gold bearing reefs 40 miles 60 km wide centred on present day johannesburg. New towns were established to accommodate the huge influx of people. South africa s modern history has often been dated from the first commercial mining of diamonds and gold in the 1870s and the 1880s when the region became a magnet for european investment see diamonds. Midway between these dates in 1886 the world s largest goldfields were discovered on the witwatersrand.

Large scale and profitable mining started with the discovery of a diamond on the banks of the orange river in 1867 by erasmus jacobs and the subsequent discovery and exploitation of the kimberley pipes a few years later. It is located in gauteng south africa and belongs to anglogold ashanti. Kimberley mine in 1873 only a few years after the digging for diamonds started discovery of gold and diamonds in south africa when gold was discovered in the eastern transvaal pilgrim s rest mac mac waterfalls and barberton a similar process took place. Mining in the region predated european arrivals by several centuries however as the new government recalled in its minerals policy statements in 1994 and 1995.

The rapid growth of the gold mining industry intensified processes started by the diamond boom. Mining in south africa was once the main driving force behind the history and development of africa s most advanced and richest economy. As the predominantly agrarian societies of european south africa began to urbanize and industrialize the region evolved into a major supplier of precious minerals to the world economy.