Johannesburg’s fascinating mining history comes to life at Gold Reef City.
It was on a hot summer’s day in 1886 that a small piece of yellow ‘rock’ changed the face of Transvaal. The discovery of gold by George Harrison and George Walker, on a farm called Langlaagte, turned the struggling Boer republic into the richest gold mining area in the world.
Two years earlier, the Witwatersrand main reef had been unearthed by prospector and explorer Jan Gerritze Bantjes Jr on the farm Vogelstruisfontein, but this gold had run out quickly—forcing the small mining towns to close down soon after they had sprung up. But the lodes at Langlaagte ran for miles underground, and immediately news spread of the “endless treasure of gold”.
This story is from the Issue 34 edition of African Safaris.
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This story is from the Issue 34 edition of African Safaris.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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