|
Free State Goldfields
The Free State goldfields were only developed after the Second World War even though gold had been discovered in 1938. The development gave rise to major development of the region. Background After the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in the 1880s geologists knew that the main reef spread to the east and west, but did so at great depth. At that period the technology to prospect or mine at such depth was not yet available. In the 1930s, new geophysical prospecting methods determined that deep gold reefs could be discovered. The mines in the Klerksdorp and Potchefstroom areas were started thanks to the success of these new methods. The Free State In the 1890s the trader Gustav Furst had a small shop on the farm Zoeten Inval. It was 13km from where Odendaalrus stands today. Furst showed the prospector Archibald Megson a quartzite vein. Megson and his partners Donaldson and Haines sank an adit and found gold. However, it was in insufficient volumes to attract financi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oryx Gold Mine
''Oryx'' is a genus consisting of four large antelope species called oryxes. Their pelage is pale with contrasting dark markings in the face and on the legs, and their long horns are almost straight. The exception is the scimitar oryx, which lacks dark markings on the legs, only has faint dark markings on the head, has an ochre neck, and has horns that are clearly decurved. The Arabian oryx was only saved from extinction through a captive-breeding program and reintroduction to the wild. The scimitar oryx, which is now listed as extinct in the wild, also relies on a captive-breeding program for its survival.Database entry includes justification for why this species is listed as extinct in the wild. Etymology The term "oryx" comes from the Greek word ὄρυξ, ''óryx'', for a type of antelope. The Greek plural form is ''óryges'', although "oryxes" has been established in English. Herodotus mentions a type of gazelle in Libya called ὄρυς, ''orus'', probably related t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vaal Dam
The Vaal Dam in South Africa was constructed in 1938 and lies 77 km south of OR Tambo International Airport. The lake behind the dam wall has a surface area of about and is 47 meters deep. The Vaal Dam lies on the Vaal River, which is one of South Africa's strongest-flowing rivers. Other rivers flowing into the dam are the Wilge River, Klip River, Molspruit and Grootspruit. It has over of shoreline and is South Africa's second biggest dam by area and the fourth largest by volume. History The construction of Vaal Dam started during the depression of the early thirties and the dam was completed in 1938 with a wall height of above lowest foundation and a full supply capacity of . The dam is a concrete gravity structure with an earthfill section on the right flank. It was built as a joint venture by Rand Water and the Department of Irrigation (now known as the Department of Water Affairs). The dam was subsequently raised in the early fifties to a height of which increased ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gold Mines In South Africa
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal in a pure form. Chemically, gold is a transition metal and a group 11 element. It is one of the least reactive chemical elements and is solid under standard conditions. Gold often occurs in free elemental ( native state), as nuggets or grains, in rocks, veins, and alluvial deposits. It occurs in a solid solution series with the native element silver (as electrum), naturally alloyed with other metals like copper and palladium, and mineral inclusions such as within pyrite. Less commonly, it occurs in minerals as gold compounds, often with tellurium (gold tellurides). Gold is resistant to most acids, though it does dissolve in aqua regia (a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid), forming a soluble tetrachloroaurate anion. Gold i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Rosenthal (historian)
Eric Rosenthal, (10 July 1905 – 1983) was a South African historian and writer. He was born in Newlands, Cape Town, Cape Colony. He studied as an attorney, later becoming a journalist and writer of many corporate histories. He was a member of the ''Three Wise Men'' on Springbok Radio's long-running quiz show, ''Test the Team''. The elder of two children born to Richard Rosenthal and Hedwig De Beer, he received his first education at Parktown Preparatory School in Johannesburg, and later St. John's College. He chose to follow a legal career and qualified as an attorney at the University of the Witwatersrand. Early opportunities as a journalist saw his virtual abandoning of law. He was competent at sketching and enlivened his books with explanatory drawings. Rosenthal was married to Jenny Bradley on 18 December 1934 in Westcliff, Johannesburg. They spent most of their married life in Fish Hoek near Cape Town. Rosenthal has been attributed with helping write the initial ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virginia, Free State
Virginia is a gold mining town located in the Lejweleputswa District Municipality and on goldfields of the Free State province in South Africa about 140 km (90 mi) northeast of Bloemfontein the provincial capital. History In 1890, two railway surveyors from the state of Virginia in the United States etched the name of their birthplace on a boulder near the farm Merriespruit. When a railway siding was eventually established at this spot, the name was adopted, and it stuck after the discovery of gold in 1949 which resulted in a mushrooming settlement on the banks of the Sand River. In 1988 the Sand River burst its banks and flooded parts of the town. In 1994 the Merriespruit tailings dam disaster occurred just outside Virginia, killing seventeen people. On the 5 December 2000, Virginia was incorporated into the Matjhabeng Local Municipality along with the city of Welkom and the towns of Allanridge, Hennenman, Odendaalsrus and Ventersburg. During the apartheid era, bla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Odendaalsrus
Odendaalsrus is the oldest gold mining town in the Lejweleputswa District Municipality in the goldfields of the Free State province in South Africa. History It started out in 1912 as a ramshackle collection of farms and a central church that became a town. In April 1946 gold was struck on the farm ''Geduld'' near the town. This discovery was mentioned in Alan Paton's novel ''Cry, the Beloved Country''. On 5 December 2000, Odendaalrus was incorporated into the Matjhabeng Local Municipality along with the city of Welkom and the towns of Allanridge, Hennenman, Ventersburg and Virginia. Odendaalsrus celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2012, it is a town located on the Goldfields close to a couple of mines, and a large Harcos farm producing chickens and eggs. Kutlwanong ''Kutloanong Location'' is a township located about 10 km outside Odendaalsrus, between Welkom and Allanridge, established to house black people during the apartheid Apartheid (, especially Sout ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hennenman
Hennenman is a town in the Free State goldfields in the Lejweleputswa District Municipality of the Free State province of South Africa. The settlement is unusual for the district as being supported by agriculture rather than the mining industry which is common in other towns. History ''Hennenman'', which was built as a single railway station, was formerly denoted as ''Ventersburg Road''. In 1927, it was renamed after local Afrikaner P.F. Hennenman, from Swartpan Farm. In 1944, black South Africans were confined to a segregated enclave in southern Hennenman. During apartheid, this area was cleared by order of the government and nearly all then-residents relocated to a new township some fifteen kilometres away, ''Vergenoeg'' (Afrikaans for "Far enough", now ''Phomolong''). Law and government Government On 5 December 2000, Hennenman was incorporated into the Matjhabeng Local Municipality with the city of Welkom and the municipalities of Allanridge, Odendaalsrus, Ventersburg and Vi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allanridge
Allanridge is a gold mining town in the Lejweleputswa District Municipality of the Free State (South African province), Free State province in South Africa. It is the main centre of the Loraine Gold Mining Company and is dominated by the tall headgear and complex reduction works that processes thousands of tons of gold-bearing ore every month. Allanridge established as a settlement in the Free State goldfields in 1947 in South Africa, 1947 and was named after Allan Roberts whose borehole's proximity to the gold bearing reef was the precursor to the mining in the area. The town layout was designed by town planner William Backhouse, who also planned Welkom. It became a municipality on 21 December 1956 but this changed on the 5 December 2000 when it was incorporated into the Matjhabeng Local Municipality with the city of Welkom and the towns of Hennenman, Odendaalsrus, Ventersburg and Virginia, Free State, Virginia. The Phathakahle township is 3 km outside of Allanridge. It was e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Riebeeckstad
Riebeeckstad is a suburb 5 km east of the city of Welkom located in the Lejweleputswa District Municipality of the Free State province of South Africa. History It is named after Jan van Riebeeck and was established as an upper-class suburb, void of mine shafts, for people working in Welkom or on the Free State goldfields. The suburb is the largest in the city of Welkom and has a significant white population. Afrikaans is most spoken language in the suburb followed by Sesotho and English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide .... The suburb is located few kilometres from the Central University of Technology in Welkom. References Populated places in the Matjhabeng Local Municipality {{FreeState-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Welkom
Welkom () is the second-largest city in the Free State province of South Africa, located about northeast of Bloemfontein which is the provincial capital. Welkom is also known as Circle City, City Within A Garden, Mvela and Matjhabeng. The city's Sesotho name, ''Matjhabeng'' means 'where nations meet', derived from the migrant labour system, where people of various countries such as Lesotho, Malawi and Mozambique etc. met to work in the mines of the gold fields. A settlement was laid out on a farm named "Welkom" (which is the Afrikaans and Dutch word for "welcome") after gold was discovered in the region, and it was officially proclaimed a town in 1948. The town became a municipality in 1961. It now falls in the Matjhabeng Municipality, part of the Lejweleputswa District. Welkom was officially declared a city on 14 February 1968. History Much of the history of Welkom is centred around the discovery of gold in the northwestern Free State. It was proclaimed a town in 1948, ni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Oryx Gold Mine")
