Johannesburg and the Rand
The power source! Long before gold had been discovered vast quantities of coal had been found. It was just waiting for a job to do. That job was to provide the power for smelting and refining gold.
If the Rand is the heart of South African industry then Johannesburg is the heart of the Rand: a great sprawling colossus of a city, more than 275 square kilometres in area. It is the focal point, the central place; and smaller towns and industrial areas are spread out on all sides of it, principally to the east, south and west. They almost all had their origins in gold mining but have since expanded the nature of their industries to:
a) meet the needs of the ever increasing population of southern Transvaal
b) take full advantage of the new mineral discoveries which have been made and which need industries to process and manufacture goods from them.
Gold
Gold is a heavy, fairly soft yellow metal- It is easily bent, easily cut, easily made into different shapes and is very hard to find. Once found, it is difficult to both mine and refine. It is valued greatly by man. Men have fought, robbed, killed and died for gold. They still do because gold is the world's money. Countries may have their currencies but gold is international; and a country which has a lot of it is very wealthy. South Africa has about 56% of the world's output (1980) and has the greatest known reserves.
The gold is found in layers of rock known as reefs and is thought to have been deposited by rivers which carried eroded material into the sea which covered this region millions of years ago. This river-borne material contained grains of gold set free by the weathering of gold bearing rocks like granite. These deposits are thought to have been metamorphosed by great pressure and then folded and uplifted by the earth's movements. The edge of the deposits was exposed later by erosion and the reef discovered. The rock in the reefs is called banket and it is this which is mined.
The method of mining is much the same as that used for underground copper ore, except that the work face where the banket is blasted is called the Stope. By stages the banket, which has been brought to the surface, is crushed to a fine powdery dust which is then mixed with water in large precipitation tanks until it is a liquid mud or slime. Cyanide is added to this mixture and dissolves the gold content to form potassium gold cyanide. The actual liquid is then run off and zinc dust is added which precipitates the gold. The gold is removed, smelted to refine and remove the impurities and then cast into ingots at Germiston in the Rand.
The goldfields are divided into four basic areas within the Rand region; but there is another very rich area in the Orange Free State centred around Odendaalsrus. Between them they produce almost all of South Africa's gold which, apart from being cast into ingots and stored in deep underground vaults, is used mainly in the jewelry and gold craft industries.
Uranium
This metal holds an ever increasing influence over man's affairs in the world today. It occurs with the gold deposits in South Africa and is extracted from the residual mud and slime, at only a little extra expense, once the machinery to do it has been installed. It is even being extracted from the yellow-white slag heaps of old processed gold ore. Sulphuric acid which is an essential ingredient of the extraction process is a by-product of the refining of copper: a mineral of which South Africa luckily has two large deposits.
South Africa produced 6000 tonnes of uranium in 1980. Most of it, 99.7%, comes from the gold mines but the great increase it is hoped will come from the Rossing mine in Namibia: an area which she hopes to be able to control despite possible independence.
So gold gave the Rand industrial region its start: but there was more to it than that. We have already mentioned coal. This was the source of power. There is so much coal that accurate estimates of the reserves are almost impossible. One estimate has it that South Africa has 20% of the world's known reserves, and most of that is in the Rand region or close to it. South Africa has so much coal that she is now able to export almost 150000 tonnes of it a day from her new port at Richards Bay, 150 kilometres north east of Durban in a widened and deepened lagoon which was formerly enclosed by longshore drift. Six trains a day, each carrying about 25 000 tonnes of coal will move along the new railway line from the eastern Rand coalfields.
The Rand's good fortune did not finish with just gold and coal. Plentiful deposits of iron ore were also discovered within the coalfield areas at Middleburg, near Glencoe and Newcastle and at Pretoria- These are all still being worked, but South Africa's best deposits are found at Thabazimbi which is about 275 kilometres north west of the Rand. A railway was built and the ore now moves into the Rand iron and steel mills at Pretoria, Johannesburg,* Witbank, Vereeniging and Vanderbiji Park.
With the Thabazimbi deposits and those at Sishen and Manganore, South Africa has 6% of the world's known iron ores containing 60% or more of iron: an estimated 5 billion tonnes,
With such amounts of coal and iron ore an iron and steel industry was inevitable. Even the limestone needed to produce iron and steel is available in huge quantities from sources that are nearby.
One thing further is vital for all mining and industrial processes: water. Now this is something which is in very short supply in South Africa; yet the Rand was fortunate. The border between Transvaal and Orange Free State is the Vaal River, which has been dammed in two places: the Vaal
Dam and the Vaal Barrage. The Rand - Pretoria - Vereeniging iron and steel mills use at least 900 million litres of water a day- To help make a tonne of steel at least 9000 litres of water is needed so the previous figure is hardly surprising.
Activity
Question sixty-six
(a) Draw a sketch map of S. Africa. On it mark and name:
1. The main minerals 2. Industrial regions. 3.Major town.
(b) Outline the factors that led to the rapid growth of industries in South Africa.
(c) Name the main ports of South Africa.
(d) Outline the problems facing South African industries..
POSSIBLE ANSWERS:
Sketch map of South Africa showing the minerals, industries and towns.
b) Factors for rapid industrial development in S. Africa:
i. The country is endowed with a large number of minerals which appear in large quantities and of high quality and there are easy to mine (see the map above).
ii. Availability of H.E.P., coal, oil and other sources of energy.
iii. The government policy that encouraged the industries by protecting the industries, through providing loans and better infrastructure.
iv. There is ready market for the manufactured goods from a large European population at home and abroad.
v. There is also cheap labour from the blacks and immigrants from the neighbouring countries.
vi. The European investors brought with them the necessary technology and skills required for in the management of modern industrial complex.
vii. Availability of water from R. Vaal, a tributary of River Orange.
viii. Availability of capital provided by the rich investors and the government.
ix. Availability of raw materials both minerals and agricultural materials like wool, fruits, sugar cane, grapes, and meat.
x. Improved transport network. Being the best in Africa.
xi. Main ports are, Maputo, East London, Port Elizabeth, Durban Port and Cape town.
Problems facing the industries:
i. Pollution of the environment.
ii. The policy of apartheid which used to cause problems in getting labourers.
iii. The policy of apartheid affected the development of industries because of the economic sanctions which were imposed on South Africa.
iv. The development of slums in the areas.
v. Congestion of industries at Rand has caused the problem of lack of water from R. Vaal.
vi. Mining accidents are also common.
vii. Continuous mining leads to wasted land which can no longer be used for agriculture.
viii. There is little attempt by the government and the mining companies to protect the environment.
ix. The pollution of water.
x. Landslides and soil erosion due to the weakening of the soil.
xi. Displacement of people.
QUESTION SIXTY SEVEN
The Map below is of Southern Africa showing the major Industrial regions.
55(a)(i) Name the countries X,Y,Z.
(ii) Four industrial regions marked A to D.
(b) Name three industries found in regions A and D.
(c) What factors have led to high level of industrialisation in A and D.
(d) State at least four problems facing industrial development in region A.
POSSIBLE ANSWERS
(a)(i) X is Republic of South Africa Y is Lesotho Z is Swaziland
(ii) The three industries found in regions A and D are:
Region A industries are:
Chemical industry, Mining engineering,
Brick and tile production, Steel rolling mill.
Region D industries are:
Oil industry, Brewery industry, Vegetable industry
(c) The factors which have led to high level of industrialisation in A and D include:
1. Presence of great coal reserves.
2. Flourishing gold mining providing market.
3. Existence of wide range of minerals in S. Africa.
4. Presence of great quantities of agricultural products acting as a raw material.
5. A lot of foreign investment.
6. Government policy of encouraging produce home of made products.
7. Good transport network.
8. Skilled manpower.
9. High level of technical know how.
(d) The problems facing industrial development in region A are:
i. Some minerals are too deep and are mined at high costs.
ii. Some minerals are getting exhausted.
iii. There is water shortage at the Rand.
iv. There is seasonal shortage of labour.
v. Political instability especially the policy of apartheid that led other countries to put trade sanctions on South Africa.
vi. There is air pollution.
vii. There is crime.
QUESTION SIXTY EIGHT.
Study the map of south Africa above and answer the following question.
A. Name:
(i) Ports A, B and C. (ii) Countries X and Y. (iii)Rivers L and M.
B. Explain why there is a more complex railway network in the eastern part of the republic of South Africa.
C.(i) With reference to the map and your own
knowledge, explain why Johannesburg is the centre for
heavy manufacturing in the republic of S. Africa.
(ii) Name the industrial activities of either