THE LIFE OF THE RAND.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12632, 8 December 1911, Page 5

THE LIFE OF THE RAND.

As the largest producer of gold m the world, the prospective life of the Witwatersrand is ' of ' interest to all civilised nations. The latest. estimate of the gold resources of the district m question has been made by the Minister for Finance sfor the Union of South Africa, and as he based his calculations on all the information that the Mines Department was able to supply, the figures deserve more attention, than any yet Submitted on the subject. In introducing his Budget for the"cu rrent year, the Minister estimated the probable production of gold from the Rand at £2,000,---000,000. Last year the output was valued at £32,002,912, so that on the Minister's estimate the -life of the Rand will last . well over 50 - years. Most of the loSver estimates' were made -many years ago, "whan the full extent of the gold-bearing district, especially m its Far Eastern extension, was not so wellknown as it how is.. This section of the R&nd not only extends •m length . from the apex to beyond the Modderfontein area, a distance; of about 12- milesi but the reefs are so flat that their workable depths, it" is stated, give a, mineralised area of more than 12 square miles. l_To work a mile from the outcrop m the ordinary dip of 'the Rand means very considerable .depth, but to be able to work 12 miles, as m the Far Eastern Rand, means an enormoys addition to the - wealth- of the Transvaal and to the life of the field.