Gold Discovery

In the article below, gold expert Neil Phillips looks at the origins, growth & decline of the greatest goldfield on earth. He also hints at hopes of new discoveries. The article was first published in the The Australian Geologist, issue 200, page 21.

One quarter of the World’s gold has been mined from the Witwatersrand goldfields around Johannesburg in South Africa. At its peak in 1970, gold was the mainstay of the South African economy, the dominant export, and source of employment for 500,000 underground miners every day. Anecdotally, those miners supported an average of ten others in extended families in South Africa and surrounding countries. Unfortunately, the last fifty years have been one of constant decline in annual Witwatersrand gold production to now be under 10 percent of its peak.

History of Witwatersrand Basin gold production rate (Christopher J. H. Hartnady)

Much has been written about the discovery of the Witwatersrand and its national and global impact. The discovery itself was early in 1886 by George Harrison, and likely in February of that year. In mid-1886 just months after his discovery, Harrison described himself to the State Secretary as having long experience as an Australian gold digger and added his opinion...

Magalies Memoirs focus on incidents in the Magaliesberg region and perhaps not everyone knows that it was here, in the heart of the Magaliesberg Biosphere Reserve, that gold was first discovered in the Transvaal, decades before diggers rushed to Barberton or George Harrison stumbled on the Witwatersrand Main Reef. “Discovered”, of course, needs to be qualified. We know from artifacts found at places like Mapungubwe and Thulamela that gold has been mined, treasured and traded for more than a thousand years – probably much longer. It was rumour of pre-colonial gold workings that lured 19th century prospectors into the interior of southern Africa. So this memoir really tells of the first re-discovery of gold in the Transvaal – an event that ultimately led to the metal becoming the backbone of the South African economy for the next century and a half.

Journey to the Magaliesberg

That important discovery was made by Pieter Jacob Marais, son of a wealthy Paarl family, well educated, enterprising and, although suffering from mild epilepsy, an intrepid adventurer. In 1847, aged 22, he left the Cape on the start of a voyage that took him around the world. First, he went to Liverpool where he heard about the California gold rush and immediately re-embarked for America. He failed to strike gold, and like many Californian diggers, he moved on to the newer goldfields in Australia. He returned to southern Africa in 1853 intent on applying his prospecting experience on home territory. The Sand River Convention, granting...

When George Harrison discovered the Main Reef of gold at Langlaagte farm in 1886, it was believed by many to be an old river that had been turned on its side. They therefore believed the gold could not continue for more than about 30 to 50 meters underground.

That this was wrong was soon revealed by pioneers like J.B. Robinson who proving that the reef dipped far underground. The next theory was that this was a deep lake, that had filled with gold-bearing debris over the ages, from rivers entering at various points. However no such rivers or traces of them exist.

Another theory became popular, that the gold had come up in volcanic activity, the volcanoes being eroded away over time, and releasing gold rich rock into an inland sea. This view of how the Witwatersrand gold fields developed held sway until recently, when imagery from space became available.

Portion of the Main Reef at George Harrison Park (Gavin Whitfield)

Before time

Before time was as we know it, a great inland sea or lake existed where today the Witwatersrand lies, and stretched out right across the Orange Free State.

Along the shoreline, mostly along what would become the Witwatersrand, but stretching away towards Potchefstroom...

Every week, tens of thousands of people cross the William Nicol Bridge (over the Braamfontein Spruit) as they drive to the Sandton CBD without realising that they are within metres of a hugely significant historical site. In 1853, more than three decades before the discovery of the largest gold field on earth, a prospector by the name of Pieter Jacobus Marais panned for and found gold in the Spruit a short distance from where the bridge now stands. This was one of the earliest discoveries of gold on the Witwatersrand!

A Gautrain bus crosses the bridge (The Heritage Portal)

In August 2015, residents of Sandton gathered to commemorate the find by unveiling a blue plaque on Panners Lane in River Club. The road was renamed Panners in the 1970s to commemorate Marais’ historic find. The story of the discovery has been around for a while but it is only in the last few years that it has reached a new audience due to the fantastic research and articles on the history of the area compiled by Malcolm Wilson (click here to view).

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