Mining and Industrial

We support the promotion of sector best practice. We also support the exploration of innovation and therefore are involved in soil revitalisation through cannabis projects. It will also explore solutions to the challenges that exist in the sector. The Competence Centre for Mining and Mineral Resources at the Southern African Chamber of Commerce and Industry will publish reports to raise awareness of health and safety in the mining environment, which, in any workplace, strongly influences the success of an enterprise.

Mining history and facts:

Mining in South Africa was once the main driving force behind the history and development of Africa’s most advanced and richest economy. Large-scale and profitable mining started with the discovery of a diamond on the banks of the Orange River in 1867 by Erasmus Jacobs and the subsequent discovery and exploitation of the Kimberley pipes a few years later. Gold rushes to Pilgrims’s Rest and Barberton were precursors to the biggest discovery of all, the Main Reef/Main Reef Leader on Gerhardus Oosthuizen’s farm Langlaagte, Portion C, in 1886, the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the subsequent rapid development of the gold field there, the biggest of them all.

In 2019, the country was the world’s:

• largest producer of platinum;
• the world’s largest producer of chromium;
• the world’s largest producer of manganese;
• the 2nd largest world producer of titanium;
• the world’s 11th largest producer of gold;
• the 3rd worldwide producer of vanadium;
• the 6th largest world producer of iron ore;
• the 11th largest world producer of cobalt; and
• the 15th largest world producer of phosphate.
• It was the world’s 12th largest producer of uranium in 2018.

Diamond and gold discoveries played an important part in the growth of the early South African economy. A site northeast of Cape Town was discovered to have rich deposits of diamonds, and thousands of white and blacks rushed to the area of Kimberley in an attempt to profit from the discovery. The British later annexed the region of Griqualand West, an area which included the diamond fields. In 1868, the republic attempted to annex areas near newly discovered diamond fields, drawing protests from the nearby British colonial government. These annexations later led to the First Boer War of 1880–1881.

Gold was discovered in the area known as Witwatersrand, triggering what would become the Witwatersrand Gold Rush of 1886. Like the diamond discoveries before, the gold rush caused thousands of foreign expatriates to flock to the region. This heightened political tensions in the area ultimately contributing to the Second Boer War in 1899. Ownership of the diamond and gold mines became concentrated in the hands of a few entrepreneurs, largely of European origin, known as the Randlords. South Africa’s and the world’s biggest diamond miner, De Beers, was funded by baron Nathaniel Mayer Rothschild in 1887, and Cecil Rhodes became the Founding Chairman of the board of directors in 1888. Cecil Rhodes’ place was later taken by sir Ernest Oppenheimer, co-founder of the Anglo-American Corporation with J.P. Morgan.

The gold mining industry continued to grow throughout much of the early 20th century, significantly contributing to the tripling of the economic value of what was then known as the Union of South Africa. In particular, revenue from gold exports provided sufficient capital to purchase much-needed machinery and petroleum products to support an expanding manufacturing base.

As of 2007, the South African mining industry employs 493,000 workers. The industry represents 18% of South Africa’s $588 billion USD Gross Domestic Product.