THE WORLD'S GREATEST GOLD REEF

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 63, 17 March 1922, Page 2

THE WORLD'S GREATEST GOLD REEF

AN IMPRESSION,

Richard Curie, the well-known writer and traveller, contributes tho following to the London Daily Mail: —

Now that attention is being called to tho Transvaal g_old industry by tho strike of the white miners on the Rand, it may bo interesting to describe what the Johannesburg gold roef ie really like. Its developed area stretches from Johannesburg to Heidelberg, a cistance of about forty miles, and from the top of «om« high building you may trace it clearly by tho enormous mounds of white tailings, up to 3,000,000 tons in weight, that are dotted along its length. They lio bleached gnd glaring in th» sun, the ftm dust of their surface blowing in the wind, and though attempts to grow erase upon them have been made, all-have failed through, the action of the cyanide with which thoy 'ire impregnated. The.battery "stamps" are never silent. Niifht and day they aro pounding up tbe rock, and there are certain spots in Johannesburg where you can hear them as you lie in bad in the stillness of the early hours like the regular beat of distant waves.

And sometimes,, too, you will hear tho muffled rumble of falling rock within old disused shafts, a rumble that sh»ke3 the houses «uid curiously resembles a genuine earthquake. Indeed, the mines in Johannesburg itself are now mostly used-up, and year by year the ' industry shifts farther to tho ?a«t. The mines themselves are ''ike so many self-contained towns A large mine, for instance, will employ 20.000 men and have a completeness of equipment both above and below the surface that is astonishing.

I have travelled 3000 vertical feet into the. earth at forty miles an hour in one of these mines and hive found down there elaborate pumping machinery, electric trains, a crowd of men going about their business as if on the surface. .

And up above, the hoisted rock is being pounded into powder, is passing over the ir.ereury-coated slime-boards, is gradually being made to give up its treasure. _ And then, of course, there is the social side of the mine, the trim quarters for the whites, tho native compound with its up-to-dxte kitchens and bakehouse, the hospital accommodation. ,Yes, each mine is, as far as possible, complete in itself. .The final thing they show you when you visit a mine is the finished article. That is to «ay, when you have observed the whole vast complex energy of the machine they point out the results in a few bars of dull yellow mstal. They are made in two sizes, worth respectively (without tho premium) £4000 and £2800.

I had heard some vaguo rumour that if you could lift one of them and carry it away you got it as a present, but I -was hastily disillusioned before I could make tha attempt. Perhaps they saw the look of desperate determination in my eyes.