Mining Centre Johannesburg (1948)

e every day in the underground world of Mines thousands of men face hardship and danger to win the mineral wealth of the world tons and tons of rock are drilled and blasted to provide the minerals NE necessary to Industry and commerce above this dark and hidden world rise the cities which its wealth has built throughout the world are many regions rich in minerals where hundreds of mines have been sunk and whole communities devoted to mining have grown up of the five continents Africa is well endowed with mineral ores having rich areas of copper coal diamonds and most precious metal of them all gold the largest and most profitable deposits of gold are found in the transval which lies between the natural boundaries of the Val and Limpopo Rivers it's a country of rolling Uplands crowned by A long ridge of high ground but in 1886 the ridge was a vast empty Place inhabited only by a few B farmers who had named it witw Rand The Ridge of white waters because of the street which flowed down its slopes or more shortly they called it the Rand to understand the structure of the Rand imagine a huge oval bowl with the gold bearing rocks thinly spread on its surface now imagine that that bowl has been tilted and buried beneath other layers of rock by movements of the Earth's crust leaving only part of the rim above the surface in this part of the rim the outcrops of gold bearing Rock occur beneath the surface we find among the various layers of rock thin veins of quartz Pebbles bound together by a sort of natural cement which contains both iron and gold for thousands of years the gold lay undisturbed some of it exposed until in 1886 a Wandering prospector almost stumbled on the outcrops his first crude test showed the richness of the A and so the world learned that there was gold on the rant a monument now records the event which brought about the ran go rush and began the growth of one of the world's greatest mining centers miners prect ectors Journeymen adventurers shopkeepers they came from thousands of miles away by Ox wagon by mule cart even on foot ready to spend the rest of their lives digging for the precious metal among the early arrivals were photographers thanks to whom pictures of the birth and growth of this mining town are available an untidy Windswept collection of wooden cuts and cated iron Shacks which rapidly grew to a thriving colony of wooden houses and then to a town of solid Stone buildings abundant cheap labor was needed as the claims multiplied and the shaft sank deeper this was supplied by the African peoples who became tough Hardy miners the railways were undeveloped and wagons had to be used to drag mining gear tools and all equipment through hundreds of miles of wild country but other early photographs show that the journeys were made successfully and the equipment and machines put to work by the stubborn pioneers as the full extent of the gold veins or reefs began to be realized the ran prospered this Rich new community was still almost cut off from the outside world but soon the Rand and the new town now called Johannesburg became the center of a vast network of Railways carrying coal equipment food and clothing into the new town and carrying off the gold to the ports in the early years of the 20th century hburg grew rapidly here and there fast disappearing remnants of that first Johannesburg still survive surrounded by a city where almost everything is new and up toate a sure sign of prosperity Johannesburg street names recall some of the men who administered the mines and plann the town including johanes rizik himself after whom the city was named the town and the mines grew side by side and characteristic of the skyline of a mining town are the huge dumps of waste material from the mines so near the city there a constant reminder that these prosperous centers would not exist without the mines from the mins of Johannesburg comes oneir of the world's supply of gold the G bearing reefs dip down to tremendous depth and in some minds work is carried on nearly 2 mil below the surface the work is done by African miners under European supervision as in most forms of mining the rock is first drilled to take the explosive charge the charge is pushed home and the fuse lit for every ounce of gold won from the reef three tons of rock have to be blasted and loaded and then transported to the surface the refining process is lengthy and elaborate the early stages are concerned with crushing the heavy gold out of its cement which consists of much lighter material mixed with water The Ore is further crushed the heavy gold particles sink and settle in the cloth on these tables chemical and mechanical processes recover 98% of the gold along with traces of silver lead and copper at the Rand Refinery these basa metals are removed during the process great heat is used to make the gold melt handling white hot ladles of molten gold calls for strong capable arms and there's no room for careless work after purification the molten metal is poured into molds where it will be left to cool and solidify the heavy solid bars of gold are known as bullan bars each bar weighs 400 ounces and is worth about £3,500 a consignment of gold is ready to be dispatched to the world's market as as the vast industry grows more and more mines are opened up around the center and today after over 60 years of mining more than 70 mines are scattered across 120 Mi of the Rand to the South the V River supplies the Rand with water of which the mines alone need millions of gallons daily at vereniging a barrage has been constructed across the Val in the development of a city a good water supply is of first importance here also is one of the electricity generating stations supplying power to the mines and to the city of over half a million people many of whom live on the sharp Ridge to the north of the town the houses are constructed of brick or local Stone the streets are laid out with trees not naturally abundant on the high velt which provide welcome shade the climate is healthy and the atmosphere very clear and bright at this high altitude the South African government Observatory is situated in Johannesburg here day-to-day weather conditions are observed situated 6,000 ft above sea level 400 m Inland Johannesburg experiences sharp variations in temperature rainfall is heaviest in the summer months the only rarely unpleasant feature of johannesburg's climate is the occasional dust storms whipped up from the mine dumps the African miners without whom the mines could not function are housed in compounds the life they live here is a communal life not unlike that of the villages they have left behind one of their most popular pastimes is to perform the traditional dances of their tribes small native communities are also found in the city itself it's a young and bustling City aerican in style with its streets laid out in blocks to provide the maximum number of corner trading sites prominent in the city center are the administrative and government buildings post office City Hall Law Courts University which was founded as the School of Mines and technology in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange where shares in gold mining companies are bought and sold the London Stock Exchange prices are often determined watching over the interests of the mining industry is the trans Chamber Of Mines the history of Johannesburg is the history of the Rand mining industry with the expansion of the mines the town became a city a mining Metropolis to South Africa and the world Johannesburg is the City of Gold built by the wealth of the mines beneath it for for