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MINING INDUSTRY IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Role of gold, diamonds & other minerals in history & economic development.

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Gold is an important component in the South African economic system and has been instrumental in helping South Africa develop into an industrialized nation in this century. It is also an important industry that has helped support the system of apartheid as a way of preserving a pliable and cheap labor force.
Gold and diamonds are the best-known and historically most important minerals mined in South Africa, though there are others, including copper, iron ore, manganese, asbestos, chromium, silver, beryllium, antimony, tin, and platinum. Gold remains the most important mineral in the country, and the spectacular rise in the price of gold in the 1970s allowed gold revenues in South Africa to increase dramatically, though prices have subsequently declined. Gold accounts for more than half the total mineral sales for the nation, and it is produced in three

Southern Africa: Civilizations in Turmoil. Africans were becoming more and more either a landlesspeasantry or an urban proletariat.[4] Foreign demand for the minerals of South Africa has sustained theeconomy there to the present day, and there have also been growing domesticrequirements as the country becomes more industrialized and modernized.Mining has a share of the Gross Domestic Product averaging 12 percentbetween 1972 and 1977, rising to 15 percent in 1978, and 18 percent in1979. Two factors prevented the industry frombeing fully successful in the nineteenth century: 1) the mining companiesand groups competed with one another, especially in the recruitment andtreatment of labor; and 2) the Afrikaner government of the republic, whichrepresented farmers who relied on Africa labor, had material, cultural, andpolitical interests that were poles apart from those of the industrialists. Recruitment in both countries wouldrevive in the late 197 s, but at considerably reduced rates from what hadbeen true before these problems arose. Department of State, 198 .Thompson, Leonard. Until the mid-197 s, however, the impact of the industry on thedomestic labor market and the economy had been much diluted by theimportation of a large proportion of the Black work force from outsideSouth Africa and the repatriation of most money earnings. The Boers retained political control,however, by refusing the franchise to persons who had resided in thecountry for less than seven years. South Africa: Civilizations in Conflict. Hull, Southern Africa: Civilizations in Turmoil (NewYork: New York University Press, 1981), 11 -112. The problems would continue and in timelead to the Boer War.[2] The gold-mining industry that developed after 1886 followed thepattern seen in the Kimberley diamond mines with a racially split laborforce. Gold and diamonds are the best-known and historically most importantminerals mined in South Africa, though there are others, including copper,iron ore, manganese, asbestos, chromium, silver, beryllium, antimony, tin,and platinum. The Minerals Bureau was established in 1975 as a branch of theDepartment of Mines to advice on the formation of governmental policies toassure maximum utilization of the country's resources.[8] BibliographyHoagland, Jim. There had long been abelief that South Africa had great mineral wealth, but it had not yet beenfound. [2]Ibid., 27-28. The uitlanders, as these foreignerswere called, were supported by the wealth of the mining companies. Gold accounts for more than half the total mineralsales for the nation, and it is produced in three main areas--Witwatersrand, including Johannesburg; the Far West Rand and Klerksdorpfields; and the Orange Free State around Odendaalsrus.[1] Diamonds were the first major discovery in South Africa with thefields along the Vaal River in 1867. The situation changed dramatically after 1866 with the discovery ofdiamonds in 1867 and gold in 1886. Gold was discovered on theWitwatersrand in 1886 and provided the Transvaal region with the basis forfuture economic stability and independence. New York: New York University Press, 1981.South Africa 1978: Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa. [6]Ibid., 176. It was rather theresult of the upward surge of world prices, as noted above. Prospecting and mining rights could be acquiredequally by South African citizens and by foreigners, with an attractivereturn on capital invested permitted. It is also an important industrythat has helped support the system of apartheid as a way of preserving apliable and cheap labor force. These foreigners constituted 75 percent of the White population ofthe Transvaal Republic by 1895. These were incredibly richgold deposits that would lead to an influx of miners from all over theworld. In 1892, theminers formed the National Union in Johannesburg to campaign for thischange. Gold is an important component in the South African economic systemand has been instrumental in helping South Africa develop into anindustrialized nation in this century. Thisgave the industry a strong incentive for keeping the proportion ofexpensive white operators as los as possible while exploiting the cheaperAfrican labor as fully as possible. This in turnproduced an expanded market for agricultural products and manufacturedgoods and also accelerated investment in manufacturing and in the mining ofthe many other mineral products in the country. The deep reefs of the Transvaal becamethe world's richest gold-bearing region, and overnight gold mining was amajor pursuit. As there were increased openingsfor mining labor, improved wages, and a South African recession, from 1976to 1978 many South African Blacks sought jobs in the mines so that thedomestically recruited work force increased significantly from over 2 percent of the labor force in the mines in the early 197 s to more than 5 percent in the late 197 s.[5] Mining operations are almost entirely in the hands of privateentrepreneurs, with major control centered in a few large multifacetedcorporations. Gold specifically has been a dominant factor in the economic life ofthe country since its discovery, and it has maintained its role as theforemost foreign exchange earner among minerals, standing at about 55percent of the total in the late 197 s compared to about 66 percent between197 and 1975. Gold and diamond mining transformed South Africaand plunged it into the world capitalist economy and political arena,touching off an economic revolution in agriculture and in nearly allsectors of the economy. The chamber of Mines ofSouth Africa was established in the 188 s and continues to regulaterelations between members and their employees and to support the industryas needed. Much of the early development ofmining was indeed financed by foreign investment, though subsequentexpansion was effected largely out of profits and from domestic sources.[6] The newfound wealth of South Africa financed the introduction ofmodern systems of transportation and communication and also led to theconcentration of the population in the mining cities. Theywanted political participation and agitated for a change. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1972.Hull, Richard W. The country stood on the edge of the worldeconomic system, and most South Africans, except for white Cape merchantsand vintners, were indigent. Washington, D.C.: U.S. A History of South Africa. The government did have oneoperation related to diamond mining established in the 192 s, but otherwisethe government policy has been to entrust development of these resources tothe private sector. There was no secondary industry, and miningwas limited to a few copper mines of marginal value. The primacy of gold was not due to production increases,and indeed output actually declined during the 197 s. The new immigrants required food, housing,furniture, and clothing, and so new markets were opened up, especially forthe white farmers. [7]Jim Hoagland, South Africa: Civilizations in Conflict (New York:Houghton Mifflin, 1972), 344. Nelson, South Africa: A Country Study (Washington, D.C.:U.S. The economy expandedgreatly and became more diversified after World War II, in part with theinflux of American investment.[7] The gold-mining industry is regulated and assisted by severalgovernmental and quasi-governmental organizations. Tuberculosis became common as didvenereal diseases and cancer, and the rural areas outside the mining andwhite agricultural enclaves were soon reduced to labor reserves. South Africa: A Country Study. Racial segregation and discrimination became hallmarks of the industry.In any disputes, the Transvaal government and the industrialists favoredthe Whites.[3] South Africa before the discovery of diamonds and gold had beenalmost purely an agricultural country based on the production of wine,cattle, and sheep as well as on small quantities of wheat, oranges, ivory,and wild ostrich feathers. By the time of the boer War, more than 1 , Africanswere toiling in the mines of South Africa, with workers coming from as faraway as Mozambique and Northern Rhodesia (today's Zambia). The price for gold was set by the international gold standard, solabor costs were the crucial variable in determining profitability. Department of State, 198 ), 176. [3]Leonard Thompson, A History of South Africa (New Haven: YaleUniversity Press, 199 ), 12 -121. Part of this effort was to keep thetwo work forces from combining. The state also has the right to engage i mining activities,and mining rights for previous metals and energy minerals ar vested in thestate except on land held in freehold. [4]Richard W. There was a plot for the mine workers to revolt against Boerdominance, but it was uncovered. [5]Nelson, 175-176. Johannesburg: 1978.Nelson, Harold D. New Haven: Yale University Press, 199 .----------------------- [1]Harold D. Miningremained a particularly important industry in terms of employing Blacklabor. Gold remains the most important mineral in the country, andthe spectacular rise in the price of gold in the 197 s allowed goldrevenues in South Africa to increase dramatically, though prices havesubsequently declined. In 1974 minersfrom Malawi were suddenly withdrawn after the crash of a plane carryinghomeward-bound workers, and beginning in 1976 the number of workers fromMozambique declined substantially. The increase inmining and the new concentration of the population that it entailed broughthealth problems as disease increased. [8]South Africa 1978: Official Yearbook of the Republic of SouthAfrica (Johannesburg: 1978), 577-578.----------------------- 1 Thegovernment and the mining corporations discouraged miners from migratingwith their families, so family life was dislocated and weakened.Agricultural production stagnated and declined, and African producers werethus eliminated as a potential economic threat to the expanding class ofwhite capitalist farmers.

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