South Africa is the most advanced and richest country of Africa. It owes all its economical development to abundance of mineral resources like gold, diamond, platinum and coal etc. The country is the leading producer of precious metals such as this metal and platinum. Almost 50% of the reserves of the world are found in South Africa. South Africa was the largest gold producer and exporter till 2007, when China surpassed it. South Africa kept its title of the largest gold producer of the world for about half century.
Gold Mines In Johannesburg
In Johannesburg the largest gold reserves of the world were found in the area of the Witwatersrand, and this is the reason why South Africa is one of the leaders in this metal mining. Johannesburg is often called as “Egoli”, which means the city of gold, by the locals. The Western Deep Level Mines have a depth of about 3900m and is one of the deepest mines in the world.
TauTona: The TuaTona mine lies near the town of Carletonville in Johannesburg and is one of the three Western Deep Levels mines of the West Wits gold field. The name “TauTona” means “great lion” in the Setswana language. It was originally built by the Anglo American Corporation. This metal excavation from this mine started in 1962, and it remains active even when the gold prices are low. The mine today has some 800 kilometres of tunnels, and about 5,600 miners work in these tunnels to extract this metal.
Great Noligwa Gold Mine: This is one of four mines operated by AngloGold Ashanti in the Vaal River area. It produces about 600,000 ounces of this metal each year. Some of the other famous gold-mines of South Africa are Kopanang Gold Mine, Moab Khotsong Mine, Mponeng Mine, Savuka Mine, Tau Lekoa Mine etc.
Active Gold Mining Companies In South Africa
AngloGold: AngloGold is the largest gold mining company of the world. It was formed by the merger of two companies namely the AngloGold and the Ashanti Goldfields in 2004. In South Africa, AngloGold is operating in Gauteng and the North West Province, and is mainly responsible for mining at Great Noligwa Mine, Kopanang Mine and Moab Khotsong Mine.
Harmony Gold Mining Company: Harmony Gold Mining is the 12th largest gold excavating company in the world and the 3rd largest in South Africa. It is ranked 5th among the world gold producers. It is actively operating in different areas of South Africa.
Avgold: Avgold is South African gold mining company and is a subsidiary of Harmony Gold Company. Nowadays, Avgold is producing gold from several marginal gold mines along the Western Wits, including Durban Roodepoort Deep (Durban Deep), Hartebeesfontein (Harties) and West Witwatersrand (West Wits) in South-Africa.
Most of gold exploration efforts in South-Africa have been focused on the Witwatersrand Basin, the most prolific gold producing region in the world. The Wits Basin still has enormous reserves, but the development of these has been hampered by the costs of accessing the ore bodies that are generally located at depths greater than 3km, because gold excavation in deeper mines is quite costly.
Gold Mining Africa Cameroon
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