The Gold Mines of the Rand; being a Description of the Mining Industry of Witwatersrand, South African Republic

Abstract

AFRICA is proverbially a land of surprises. It is not likely, however, that more startling surprises can be in store than those witnessed by the present generation. We have seen a great city spring up, in what, before the discovery of gold in the Witwatersrand, was a desert, a city with over eighty mines, the workings of which extend east and west from Johannesburg for 45˙8 miles. The mines have been worked with regularity, and the augmentation of dividends has attracted the attention of capitalists in all parts of the globe, resulting in the Russian Government commissioning Mr. Kitaeff to report on the gold-field, and in the Prussian Government despatching Mr. Schmeisser for the same purpose. The output of gold from the Witwatersrand has risen from 23,000 ozs. in 1887 to 2,023,198 ozs., valued at nearly,£7,000,000, in 1894, whilst the return for the first nine months of the current year was 1,711,337 ozs. The Transvaal now produces one-fifth of the world's supply. It is calculated that at the present rate of progress the output of the Witwatersrand mines will have reached by the end of the century a value of £20,000,000.

The Gold Mines of the Rand; being a Description of the Mining Industry of Witwatersrand, South African Republic.

By F. H. Hatch J. A. Chalmers. (London: Macmillan and Co., 1895.)