Ogies is a settlement in

Nkangala District Municipality Nkangala is one of the 3 districts of Mpumalanga province of South Africa. The seat of Nkangala is Middelburg. The Nkangala District Municipality consists of 160 towns and villages. The most spoken language of its 1,308,129 people is IsiNdebele wi ...

in the

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. It is a coal-mining town 29 km south-west of

Witbank Witbank (), officially Emalahleni, is a city situated on the Highveld of Mpumalanga, South Africa, within the Emalahleni Local Municipality. The name Witbank is Afrikaans for "white ridge", and is named after a white sandstone outcrop where wago ...

and 70 km north-east of Springs.

History

It was laid out in 1928 on the farm Oogiesfontein, 'fountain with many "eyes" or springs'. The name is derived from that of the farm. The town developed around train station built there in 1928. The original name of the town was Oogies but that changed to the current version in 1939.

Economy

Mining

African Exploration Mining and Finance Corporation The African Exploration Mining and Finance Corporation (AEMFC) is a state-controlled mining business in South Africa. The AEMFC was launched by Jacob Zuma, the former president of South Africa, prompting concerns that the state might attempt to n ...

built its first coal mine at Vlakfontein, near Ogies, which was completed in January 2011. It mostly supplies coal to the nearby

Kendal Power Station Kendal Power Station is a coal-fired power station in Mpumalanga, South Africa. It is sited in a coal-mining area; one of its sources is AEMFC's coal mine at Vlakfontein, near Ogies. History Design Kendal was built between 1982 and 1993. The fi ...

Infrastructure

Transportation

Ogies is an important railway junction on the Springs to

rail-line, a line that connects to the

Port of Richards Bay The Port of Richards Bay is located in Richards Bay harbour on the Indian Ocean coast of South Africa, and contains the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) which is the largest coal export facility in Africa. Although originally built to handle coa ...

. It has several branches of tracks that service the coal mines close to the town.

Roads

The town is connected by two main roads, the R555 and the R545 to

Kriel Kriel is an Afrikaans surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Anneline Kriel, South African model and actress *Ashley Kriel (1966–1987), South African activist * Hernus Kriel (1941–2015), first Premier of the Western Cape province * ...

. The R545 North connects the town to the N12 freeway which links

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

to Witbank.

References

Populated places in the Emalahleni Local Municipality, Mpumalanga Mining communities in South Africa {{Mpumalanga-geo-stub