South Africa experienced a transformation between 1870, when the diamond rush to Kimberley began, and 1902, when the South African War ended. Midway between these …
A succession of great African empires rose off the back of the gold trade as salt, ivory, and slaves were just some of the commodities exchanged for the precious metal that eventually found its way into most …
Gold, more so than diamonds; revolutionized South Africa from an agricultural society to become the largest gold-producer in the world. Later, more gold mines were discovered further south and east of …
A brief overview of the history and development of Witwatersrand, the famous gold mine of South Africa. With photos, facts, and figures about its impact on the growth of the region, the history of precious metals in the …
By the 1970s, South Africa was by far the biggest global gold producer, with more than 75% of all reserves, which contributed more than 21% of the country's GDP.
The discovery of diamonds as well as other minerals such as gold began with earnest the process of urbanization. It saw people come from all over the world to evaluate the investment opportunity that had been discovered. It saw the growth of villages into towns and towns into cities. (Gardner pp 56) History
1880s - Gold is discovered in the Transvaal, triggering the gold rush. 1899 - British troops gather on the Transvaal border and ignore an ultimatum to disperse. The second Anglo-Boer War...
The discovery of diamonds in South Africa occurred in early 1867 on the land of a poor Boer farmer, Daniel Jacobs, near the small isolated settlement of Hopetown on the Orange River in the Cape of …
Currently, South Africa is the world's sixth largest producer of gold with the second largest known gold reserves (George, 2014 ). In addition, the country produces …
Australia became a major source of gold from 1851 CE, and from 1898 CE South Africa became the world's biggest producer of gold, a position only relatively recently challenged and overtaken by China, …
The decade following South Africa's departure from the gold standard, a higher international gold price and the demand for manufactured goods from South Africa as a consequence of World War II ...
Gold in South Africa was first discovered in the late 19th century by two prospectors in a place called Witwatersrand, which triggered the 1886 Witwatersrand Gold Rush. This gold discovery was a turning …
With South Africa leaving the gold standard and rejoining the sterling area which largely took the place of the classical gold standard in the 1930s, South Africa's …
In the 20 th century, the large gold mines on the West Wits line were established, and towns like Carletonville and Klerksdorp became important and busy centres around the world-famous gold mines: Kloof, …
The first recorded discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand was made by Jan Gerrit Bantjes in June 1884, on the farm Vogelstruisfontein, and was followed soon thereafter, in …
Gold, more so than diamonds; revolutionized South Africa from an agricultural society to become the largest gold-producer in the world. Later, more gold mines were discovered further south and east …
Three gold mines established the Rand Mutual Assurance Company, a world pioneer in workmen's compensation 1898 Gold output soared to 118 tonnes making South Africa …
For many years, South Africa was the world's primary gold producer. The glory days of the gold sector started waning in the early 21 st century as mines went deeper to find the rich reef patches. At the same time, the gold price had dropped significantly from the previous highs, and the global economy hit headwinds, culminating in the global ...
The 1886 discovery of gold on a farm in the Witwatersrand region of southern Africa drove the growth of Johannesburg, and gold mining has aided the South African economy for more than a century since. But gold, and diamonds, also fueled the Second Boer War, one of the most destructive armed conflicts in Africa's history.
In his economic history of South Africa, de Kiewiet ( 1964, 36) described the currency of the Cape Colony as looking like a 'numismatic collection. There were gold mohurs and rupees from India, pagodas from Madras, johanas, doubloons and dollars from Spain and her empire, sequins from Venice and guineas and shillings from England.'
Gold is one of the most valuable minerals on the planet, consisting mostly of elemental gold with traces of mercury, silver, copper, iron, nickel, manganese, and tinier amounts of selenium,...
The Witwatersrand's Geologic History. Gold was discovered on the Langlaagte farm in 1886, setting the stage for the Second Boer War from 1899 to 1902. The Langlaagte gold mine is seen here in 1893. Credit: British Library. In the Gauteng Province of modern-day South Africa, a 56-kilometer-long ridge reaches heights up to 1,700 meters.
The discovery of minerals in the late nineteenth century--diamonds in 1867 and gold in 1886--dramatically altered the economic and political structure of southern Africa. The growing mineral industry created ever-greater …
Very few South Africans ever saw the wealth that came from Johannesburg's gold rush, however. After the National Party crept into power with just 38% of the popular vote in the 1948 elections ...
Diamond Digging in South Africa, J. Andrew, Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania for 1887, pp. 98-106, (1888). The importance of diamond mining to the economic development of the …
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. The rapid growth of the gold-mining industry intensified processes started by the diamond boom: immigration, …
The Beginning of South Africa's Modern Gold Coin The Krugerrand was first minted in 1967. The South African coin encouraged the private ownership of gold. Unlike other bullion coins, the Krugerrand was given the status of currency or legal tender. As a result, it was minted in a copper-gold alloy to be durable.
Our history 1887 – 1902 1887 Gold Fields of South Africa Limited is formed in London during Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee and an office is established at Doornfontein in Johannesburg.
The Nile is the biggest river in Africa. The river comes from the meeting of three rivers from Sudan, Uganda and Ethiopia. It starts in south (Upper) Egypt and ends at the country's northern border with the Mediterranean …
Mining in South Africa started when the first copper mine was established in the Northern Cape Province in the early 1850s. In 1867, the first diamond was discovered in Hopetown, after which diamond mines were established in Kimberley, also in the Northern Cape. Towards the end of 1870, gold was discovered outside Polokwane in the Limpopo …
History | Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited JSE: R82.86 0.00% NYSE: $4.54 0.67% GOLD: $2 007/oz 0.00% GOLD: R1 175 701/kg -0.33% ZAR:USD R18.22 -0.36% At 13:34pm, 08 Apr 2023 Home » About us » History For over 70 years Harmony has, more than any other gold mining company in South Africa, …
South Africa. Gold was first discovered in Limpopo Province, South Africa, in 1870, and commercial mining began the following year (Sorensen, 2011 ). Throughout the 1880s further gold reserves were located, first in the eastern Transvaal, then in Barberton and Witwatersrand in 1886 (Richardson & Van Helten, 1984 ).
Gold was the backbone of Johannesburg's rapid growth. In time, industries were established, and more and more people came seeking jobs and a slice of its wealth, especially after the 1913 Natives Land Act, which robbed …
In his history of money and banking in South Africa, Arndt (Citation 1928, 93) began his section on the Transvaal by writing that 'the world's largest gold producer began its history in poverty and for a quarter century was steadily confronted with financial embarrassments'. There was so little money in circulation when the republic was ...
The continent's largest producer of gold, South Africa, is the world's sixth largest producer (George, 2014 ). Despite Africa's mineral resource endowment, poor governance of extractive industries has meant the benefits of this wealth have thus far not been distributed equally.
BOOK: Harry Oppenheimer: Diamonds, Gold and Dynasty by Michael Cardo (Jonathan Ball) As a mining boss, financier, philanthropist and public figure, Harry Oppenheimer straddles the history of 20th-century South Africa. In the 1950s the National Party regarded him as a threat to Afrikanerdom, the sinister embodiment of English …
Gold. The discovery of the Witwatersrand goldfields in 1886 was a turning point in South Africa's history. The demand for franchise rights for English-speaking immigrants working on the new goldfields was the pretext Britain used to go to war with the Transvaal and Orange Free State in 1899.
The Witwatersrand is in Gauteng Province, South Africa. Gauteng Province is the roughly the southern portion of what was previously the Transvaal, formerly an independent state settled by the Boers after the Great Trek. J. H. Davis, an Englishman, was reported to have found gold "in considerable quantities" in July 1852 at Paardekraal near Krugersdorp, …