in American Scientist “The Origin of Gold in South Africa” Nov 2003 (, Laurence J. Robb and F. Michael Meyer “The Witwatersrand Basin, South Africa: Geological framework and mineralization processes” from Ore Geology Reviews June 1995 (, Horscroft et al. Builders were very busy. Popular theories include hydrothermal, placer and biological precipitation theories. “Witwatersrand Metallogenesis: The Case For (Modified) Syngenesis” (. Other mining towns sprang up as well. The evidence for this is the presence of extremely rich gold grades associated with carbonaceous horizons, the varying richness of the conglomerate beds and the complex suite of elements co-deposited with the gold. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Resources Data System catalogs information about mineral resources around the United States and the world. ... Area map, Witwatersrand / Relief shown by spot heights. Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (Great Britain), Radefeld, Carl Christian Franz, 1788-1874. It is the presence of these spectacular waterfalls that has given the scarp its … In mining terms, the Pilbara is synonymous with iron ore.It is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of seaborne ore and has played a large part in establishing the fortunes of the big miners BHP and Rio Tinto and in more recent times Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest’s Fortescue.Famously, Lang Hancock and his partner Peter Wright discovered the massive iron ore deposits later called Hope Downs in 1952, although government geologist Harr… entworfen und gezeichnet von C. F. Weiland. It is estimated the 40% of all of the gold ever mined has come out of the Basin. Davis, an English miner. The actual gold deposits themselves are quite thin and the surrounding rock matrix is very hard. Although a rare exploration target, junior exploration companies Novo Resources and Inventus Mining have paleoplacers related projects. © Copyright 2021, GEOLOGYFORINVESTORS.COM All Rights Reserved, Largest Gold Deposits in the World – Witwatersrand Gold Fields, Cerro Rico: The Greatest of the Great. Contact Now! Panel title. The Libanon Gold Mine is in Gauteng, South Africa. The Witwatersrand Nigel Gold Mine is a underground mining operation. Goldmann's map, Witwatersrand gold fields : S.A.R. Using the map tool, users can zoom in to obtain reports and data on past and present mines, mine prospects, and processing plants. However neither have come close to the size of the Witwatersrand. Mineral Map of the Union of South Africa. Evidence for this comes from the facts that the gold is older than the host rock, the gold is found almost exclusively in the conglomerates and some gold shows a flattened, circular appearance, indicative of water transport. The Company plans to transition to a mid-tier gold producer from its flagship project in the Central Rand Goldfield of South Africa, the Witwatersrand … You can scroll down to find more maps of this location. Production does not come easy though. The Witwatersrand gold fields of South Africa account for more than a third of the world's total gold production since mining started there in 1886: 48,000 t Au. A brief overview of the history and development of Witwatersrand, the famous gold mine of South Africa. These are currently being re-processed to extract the remaining gold. Located in South Africa, the Witwatersrand Basin represents the richest gold field ever discovered. Finally, the area was preserved when a massive meteorite hit and formed the Vredefort dome. Simplified geologic map of the Witwatersrand Basin, South Africa. The Company ceased mining operations and is in the process of mine closure. Click here and draw a rectangle over the map to precisely define the search area. There are a … Witwatersrand goldfield, South Africa : The Witwatersrand is a large basin of metamorphosed conglomerates that forms the greatest goldfield in the world. [Pretoria] : Department of Mines, Union of South Africa. Though there were smaller mining operations in the region, it wasn’t until 1884 and the subsequent 1886 discovery at Langlaagte that the Witwatersrand gold rush got under way in ea… Andrew Watson is the principal of Anterrra Consulting, which provides strategic advice, project generation, investor relations services and digital data management services to clients in Mining, Junior Exploration and Oil and Gas. Ancient river systems feeding into the basin eroded the surrounding highlands and over a period of about 260 million years, deposited layers of quartz pebble conglomerates, sandstones and shales. These mining towns form a form a curve on the map. Old Gold: An Introduction to Archean Greenstone Belts, SEDEX: The Biggest Lead and Zinc Deposits in the World, Decoding the JORC Code: An Overview for Investors, Adapting Petroleum Geophysics for Mineral Exploration, Brian F. Windley “The Evolving Continents” 3rd edition 1995. Introduction The gold fields of the Witwatersrand Basin in South Africa are, by a landslide, the largest single gold producing… Get directions, maps, and traffic for Witwatersrand Gold Mining, Gauteng. Still, they support many of the largest gold companies in the world including Harmony, Sibanye, Goldfields, and AngloGold-Ashanti. The scarp, primarily formed of hard, erosion resistant quartzite sedimentary rocks, as well as banded iron-stones and marine lava deposits interspersed with relatively softer rocks, nestles a large number of waterfalls. Many deposits are either deeply buried or have been mined to the point that only the deeper deposits remain. The hydrothermal model proposes that gold entered the basin via the permeable conglomerate horizons via hydrothermal activity and was precipitated out, around the pyrite and uranium. The Witwatersrand Supergroup contains more uranium than gold and the Witwatersrand gold mines are in fact also uranium mines. Mine operations consist of underground workings. A foreland basin is … Narrow your search with advanced settings, such as Years (from/to), Fulltext, Publisher, etc. A. Hein1, and Nick King3 ABSTRACT Inrushes of ground water and the ignition of flammable gases pose risks to workers in deep South African gold mines. The Witwatersrand plateau consists of a 5000-to-7000-metre-thick (3.1–4.3 mi) layer of mainly sedimentary rocks laid down over a period of about 260 million years, starting approximately 2.97 billion years ago. It has an average elevation of around 5,600 feet. With photos, facts, and figures about its impact on the growth of the region, the history of precious metals in the area, and the people that have mined the gold from the ground, even up to today. Shafts go down some 3,900 meters be… The consolidated Gold Fields of south Africa, Limited 1 : 60000 o Conditions underground. Wall map. Special map accompanying Richmond's South African All Mining Year Book illustrating the location of Mines, Quarries and Works. 3D edge detection seismic attributes used to map potential conduits for water and methane in deep gold mines in the Witwatersrand basin, South Africa Musa S. D. Manzi1, Raymond J. Durrheim2, Kim A. Uranium was originally mined as a by-product of the gold mining industry in Gauteng and the West Rand (Von Backström, 1976). +Scope and urgency of the problem (cont.) It has produced some 2 billion ounces over a century of mining and at an average grade of 15 g/t Au with a current head grade of 6-10 g/t Au and they still have estimated reserves of some 1,161 billion ounces (36,000 tonnes). See the results of your search on the right side. Frimmel HE, Minter WEL (2002) Recent developments concerning the geological history and genesis of the Witwatersrand gold deposits, South Africa. . In: Goldfarb RJ, Nielsen RL (eds) Integrated methods for discovery: global exploration in the twenty-first century. The Witwatersrand Basin is approximatly 350 km long and 200 km wide. With Oil and Gas his experience is primarily in the Madison, Bakken and Nisku Petroleum systems of Southern Alberta/ Northern Montana. Schematic illustration of the geotectonic environments of formation for gold-bearing ore deposits. The gold fields of the Witwatersrand Basin in South Africa are, by a landslide, the largest single gold producing district in the world. The gold fields of the Witwatersrand Basin in South Africa are, by a landslide, the largest single gold producing district in the world. Accompanied by walking stick in which map was attached to. Witwatersrand is a picturesque, 35-mile long escarpment in the Guateng Province of South Africa. Initial production took place in 1940 and overall output was considered to be medium size. To accompany the handbook, The Mineral Resources of the Union of South Africa" 1959. He sold £600 of gold to the Transvaal Treasury and was subsequently ordered to leave the country. Largest Gold Deposits in the World – Witwatersrand Gold Fields. Get notified when we add new content at Geology for Investors.Subscribers get free access to our most recently published Knowledge Base article! DWAF Water for Growth & Development Framework Ver 7, 2009: “present and immediate” threat in the central and western basins of the Witwatersrand mine systems that requires “urgent intervention” “As a consequence of the absence of operational pumping facilities, the Central Basin has flooded to within 900m of the surface, threatening the Union of South Africa. Another find by Pieter Jacob Marais was recorded in 1853 on the Jukskei River, but was subject to similar secrecy. Col. ill. and maps of "Pretoria, 1:21,400" and "Johannesburg, 1:21,400" on verso. This pushed up a core area but pulled the surrounding crust down and protected the basin from erosion. Make sense of mining company investments. The first discovery of gold in the region is recorded as being in 1852 in the Pardekraal farm by J.H. Mine operations consist of 2 distinct underground workings. One side effect of early and very long term mining are the huge tailing piles from the old mines. The gold deposits located in this basin make up the largest known concentration of gold ..... 5 3. Legends in English and Afrikaans. As the Witswatersrand has accumulated a massive literature of studies going back some 100 years the following are a mere sample. Similar Witwatersrand type deposits have been found such as the Tarkwa Gold Fields in Ghana, Africa and the Jacobina Gold Deposit in Brazil. Basin infilling resulted in more than 11 kilometers of sedimentary rocks and some volcanic rocks. general location on regional map) Given that the Witwatersrand gold deposits outcrop over a very wide area either side of Johannesburg the goldfield is commonly divided into three districts; namely Central, Eastern and Western. In 1886, after years of rumors, legends, and smaller discoveries, it was definitively established that there was a huge, rich deposit of gold under the Witwatersrand, a rocky ridge in South Africa. Production does not come easy though. This curve is called the Witwatersrand, the Rand for short. These gold fields dominated production throughout the twentieth century, but production peaked at … The basin was then overlain by the “Ventersdorp and Transvaal supergroups” (see map below) which buried the gold-bearing sequence under 23 kilometres of sediments and volcanic rocks. Includes map of the Klerksdorp and Heidelberg district and key and supplementary map showing the sections Witwatersrand's golf fields. These instructions will show you how to find historical maps online. The region is at the centre of South African gold mining, which has permanently marked the man-made landscape with its many spoil heaps and pits. There is one known shaft. Chapters 19, 21 (Book), Kirk et al. Witwatersrand Gold Mining Company Limited is a former South African gold mining company. The gold mines in this area are possibly the deepest mines in the world (mining operations at 3600 m and exploration core-drilling up to 4600m). 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