SOUTH AFRICAN COLONIES

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22590, 21 December 1938, Page 4

SOUTH AFRICAN COLONIES

NO DESIRE FOR RETURN

FEELING SAME AS IN NEW ZEALAND

VAST MINING OPERATIONS

Feeling in South Africa on the question of the return of German colonies is much the same as that in New Zealand, according to the Rev. E. Dunstan, of the Methodist Church at Rustenburg in the Transvaal, who with his son, Mr E. T. Dunstan, is visiting Christchurch. Only a very small number of South Africans were in favour of the* return of the former German colonies, said Mr Dunstan, and the sincerity of their apparent desire for a return to Germany was to be doubted. Mr Dunstan said that there appeared to be a feeling in New Zealand that South Africans favoured the opening of negotiations with Germany over colonies, but this was quite erroneous. The feeling on colonies in South Africa was exactly the same as it was in New Zealand. Mr Pirow, the Minister for Defence, represented a small section of the South African public, which gave the impression that it was anxious to negotiate with Germany, but this section by no means represented the bulk of South Africans, but merely of an extreme Dutch section.

About 40 per cem. of the European population of South Africa spoke English, and about 60 per cent. Afrikaans,

but the bulk of the Afrikaans-speaking people were behind the present Government. A small section of extreme nationalists led by Dr. P. Malan gave the impression that they favoured Germany, but whether they were truly sincere or not was another question. Mr Dunstan will spend about four .months in New Zealand, and has decided to divide his time equally between the North and South Islands. He has spent seven weeks in the North Island, and says that he has been very impressed with what he has seen. "My friends tell me that I will see more impressive scenery in the South Island, and I am looking forward to my trip immensely," he said.

Mine in City Mr E. T. Dunstan, who is a master of science of the Witwatersrand University, is a metallurgist on (he staff of ihe Langlaagte Estate and Gold Mining Company, which works the first gold mine to be discovered on the Witwatersrand area. The mine has been worked for more than 50 years, and has a life of about another eight years. It is entirely within the municipal area of Johannesburg, but as that area extends for 81 square miles, the mine is a good distance from the centre of the city.

Mi* Dunstan explained that in general the gold in quartz reefs occurs more or less irregularly, but on the Witwatersrand values were extremely regular, though in general they were not particularly rich. His company works a formation of a typical rock of the district, known as banket reef, which gives , values of about three pennyweights to the ton. Profits are about Is 6d a ton, but ore of a value much lower cannot profitably be worked. The average value for the Witwatersrand mines is from four'to five.pennyweights, but one particularly rich property runs as high as 15 pennyweights.

The Langlaagte mine was being worked at present at a depth of 6000 feet, and produced about 100,000 tons of ore a month. The biggest mine in the area produced 400,000 - tons a month. The last year had seen an almost constant setting of new production figures and profits. The high price of gold had enabled lower grade ores to be worked profitably, and most of the big mines were working beyond their normal capacity.

Surface Collapsing: The Witwatersrand had been worked extensively for about half a century, and still had a life variously estimated at from 50 to 100 years. So intensive had the workings underground become that it was said that the whole Witwatersrand could be traversed for its length of about 60 miles by walking through underground

galleries. The upper strata were in certain places beginning to settle because of their enormous weight, and in places where this occurred there was very definite danger, and severe earth tremors were common.

This settling was the cause of accidents, more particularly when the rock, after having been subjected to huge pressure, began to splinter, but safety measures were strictly enforced throughout the whole area, and fatalities had been reduced to the very low figure of between two and three for every 1000 employees. The greatest number of these accidents was through blasting, generally through drilling into a shot which had failed to explode. The Witwatersrand contains no alluvial deposits at all. The reefs lie in many places exposed to the surface, and must have given up their gold during ages of weathering, but the alluvial gold had never yet been discovered.

I A great deal of prospecting for new reefs all over South Africa is being carried on, and there has been some success. So far nothing has been proved with values equalling those of the Witwatersrand and the reefs associated with it. Most of the gold outside so far discovered appears to be very patchy.

High Extraction ! Mr Dunstan's work is with the actual crushing of the ore and extraction of the gold. Working generally on low values, the mining companies make extremely careful samples, and are continuously in touch with every part of the mine. The residues at the Langlaagte mine contain on an average less than .1 of a pennyweight of gold, which is the lowest figure obtained by any of. the mines. The manual labour in the mines is done largely by the natives, but there are many positions for whites, and the good wages of the mines have drawn young men away from many Transvaal farms, and created a definite shortage of farm labour. The natives work on contracts, generally of about three or four months, and the output of the mines varies continually with the amount of labour available. The natives are paid well, and have a standard of life far superior to that in their own villages.

Mr Dunstan looks forward to seeing something of the alluvial mining on the West Coast.