Mining industry of South Africa
[17] Diamond and gold discoveries played an important part in the growth of the early South African economy.
A site northeast of Cape Town was discovered to have rich deposits of diamonds, and thousands of white and blacks rushed to the area of Kimberley in an attempt to profit from the discovery.
In 1868, the republic attempted to annex areas near newly discovered diamond fields, drawing protests from the nearby British colonial government.
[19] Ownership of the diamond and gold mines became concentrated in the hands of a few entrepreneurs, largely of European origin, known as the Randlords.
South Africa's and the world's biggest diamond miner, De Beers, was funded by baron Nathaniel Mayer Rothschild in 1887, and Cecil Rhodes became the Founding Chairman of the board of directors in 1888.
The gold mining industry continued to grow throughout much of the early 20th century, significantly contributing to the tripling of the economic value of what was then known as the Union of South Africa.
In particular, revenue from gold exports provided sufficient capital to purchase much-needed machinery and petroleum products to support an expanding manufacturing base.
[28] The gold in the Witwatersrand Basin area was deposited in ancient river deltas, having been washed down from surrounding gold-rich greenstone belts to the north and west.
Rhenium-osmium isotope studies indicates that the gold in those mineral deposits came from unusual three billion year old mantle sourced intrusions known as komatiites present in the edenvale belts.
[29] The Vredefort Dome impact which lies within the basin and the nearby Bushveld Igneous Complex are both about a billion years younger than the interpreted age of the gold.
[24] The high value-added diamond cutting industry is in decline in South Africa, mainly due to competition from low-cost labour countries such as India, China and Botswana.
In 2012, there were fourteen separate FeCr smelters in South Africa, with a combined production capacity in excess of 4.7 Mt per annum.
[38] The Nuclear Fuels Corporation of South Africa (NUFCOR) started processing uranium as a by-product of gold mining[39] in 1967.
[41] South Africa was part of the 1972-1976 uranium producers cartel, Societe d'Etudes de Recherches d'Uranium.
[52][53] The South African mining industry is frequently criticized for its poor safety record and high number of fatalities but conditions are improving.
two-thirds were on the deep gold mines, a reflection of the extreme pressure at depth and continual movement of the country rock.
It is difficult to see how falls of ground can be eliminated given their frequent unpredictability, which is increasing with depth, and the difficulties in providing continuous roof support as on longwall coal mines due to the violence of a face blast in the hard rock of the gold mines but clearly much can be done to improve training and to instill a sense of safe working practice in the miners, many of whom are relatively inexperienced.
The incident caused South African President Thabo Mbeki to mandate full safety audits for all operating mines.
This audit has caused additional facilities to shut down temporarily, including the nation's largest gold mine located at Driefontein.
[57] The Rand Rebellion was a widespread strike among miners in the Witwatersrand area of the Transvaal Province in the former Union of South Africa.
[58] The strike took place on 4 December, and impacted over 240,000 workers at 60 sites across the country, including mines devoted to the production of gold, platinum, and coal.
[64] In 2019, a high court in Johannesburg approved the historic compensation deal for the miners who contracted the fatal silicosis disease when they worked in the mines.
