Vaal Reefs is a gold bearing reef which is mined near the town of Orkney in

Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality (formerly Southern District Municipality) is one of the 4 districts of North West province of South Africa. The seat of Kaunda District is Klerksdorp. A plurality of its 742 821 people speak Setswana (2016 C ...

in the North West 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 coun ...

. The town of Orkney is home to a large gold mining operation originally owned by

AngloGold Ashanti AngloGold Ashanti Limited is a global gold mining company. It was formed in 2004 by the merger of AngloGold and the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation. It is now a global gold producer with 21 operations on four continents. The company is listed ...

, a company that was originally incorporated in 1944 under the name of Vaal Reefs Exploration and Mining Company Limited.

Vaal Reefs tragedy

A mining accident on 10 May 1995 resulted in the death of 104 miners when a locomotive fell into a lift shaft at the edge of 56 level which was below the surface, landing on the cage and causing it to plunge to the bottom of the shaft. It is the worst

elevator An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They a ...

disaster in human history. This tragedy brought two key changes to the mining industry. Firstly, the immediate implementation of the new Health & Safety Act – specifically the five basic rights – and secondly, for the first time ever, the stakeholders took care of the dependents after the death of breadwinners. The 104 victims of the disaster left 431 dependents (all entirely dependent before on the deceased), now the beneficiaries of the Vaal Reefs Disaster Trust. The dependents of the deceased are scattered across South Africa and neighbouring countries. The majority of widows and children live in Lesotho (219), followed by South Africa (114), Mozambique (54), Botswana (31) and Eswatini (13).About Vaal Reefs Disaster Trust
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References

Populated places in the City of Matlosana Local Municipality Mining disasters in South Africa 1995 in South Africa 1995 mining disasters 1995 disasters in South Africa {{NorthWestZA-geo-stub