Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1902-01-31
AFRICAN GOLD MINING.
Problems Confronting the Trans
walls Great Industry.
EXPERTS PRACTICAL REMARKS.
John uuvs Hammond Place. the
Probable Life of the Rand Reef at
Thirty Years Curious Facts Re
xarding the Diamond Hines-fhe
Question of Labor.

gardiug the Diamond Gines-1he
Question OF Labor.
/ The following remarks on the re
/ sources ard outlook of the TransVaai
are extracted from an address deilV-
cred by Mr. John Hays Hammond at
Harvard aud Yale. The facts set forth
have an Interesting bearing on the cur
| rent finance. commerce and history.
saws the New York Post. Aside from
I the broad questions of the money mar
! ket involved in the problems touched
upon. the matters of American sup
/ plies for the Transvaal and OF the
I country's own industrial and poliucai
/ future depend very largely on the de
| velopments now about 10 be witnessed
/ on the Witwatersrand.
] Mr. Hammond spoke as follows:
The Witwatersrand goldtield in the
| Transvaat is by far the most impor-
tant gold mining district in the world
/ The Witwatersrand district is in its
physical aspect radically different from
i the usual conception of a mining coun
try. Ii rather resembles grazing
/ country. where mining proSpectors
/ would pass by cOntemptuonsly as I'M
/ congeuial IN ore. and in that respect
the occurrence Of gold in the Witwa
tersrand district illustrates the truth
of the adaga that gold is where you
! find it Gold was first discovered in
this district in the year 1850 1t oc-
/ CURED in what is called the banket,
+ which is Il coarse coDxlomerate derry
ug its name from its resemblance TO
an almond rock candy called 'hsnket
/ by the butch This nomenclature is
about the sole contribution of the
! Dutch to tie mining industry.
! The Se auriferous deposits are UNIQUE
( in the hisrary OF gold mining and sre
/ uupar:. ileled in respect 10 their re-
markable consistency and consequently
commercial reliability. The gold bear
! ing congiomerate beds are interstrau-
| fed with beds of quartzite and sand
stone. The ore carries about $40 in
gold per ton and is mined and treated
meta llurgically by the usual methods
of gold mining and milling.
The principal mines extend east and
west from the town of Johannesburg
twenty-five miles in either direction. To
give some idea of the magnitude of
opera tons. | may state that about 1O0,-
600 kat firs and over 10000 white men
are engaged directly in mining and
that nearly 6.0o0 stamps are working
night and day. crushing over 100000
tons of ore annually. In order to OBJ
tain the supply of ore for one years
output il is necessary 10 excavate eight
miles of solid rock five feet in width
and AGO feet in depth. besides the many
thousands of feet of additional shaft
| sinking. etc. The gold won as the re-
suit OF this stupendous work is valued
at about S15.O0O.OOO Since 1886 these
mines have yielded nearly $4O0.OO0.OOO
worth of gold.
| Just previous to the beginning OF
the war the Witwatersran nd mines were
producing gold with value of $780,.
| 0OO. 900 per annum. more than one-third
of the worlds output. The gold mines
support a district of 100000 white pop
ulation besides contributing TO the sup
port of thousands of laborers in other
countries engaged in the manufacture
of supplies for this industry.
How long will these mines last?''
ut is customary TO speak of such eX-
tensive deposits as illimitable but as
an engineer ] am denied the use of
such convenient hyperbole and must
endeavor to satisfy the curious by
some reply more definite. But it is in
deed u difficult question to answer. de-
/ pending as it does upon the depth to
which mining can be probably car
rieC on and upon the rapidity of ex-
! ploitation as we'll As to ultimate
depths. the geological and mining con-
/ ditions in the WitwaterSrand district
/ are exceptionally favorable and admit
of maximum depths. There is but lit
( tie water to interfere with deep min
4 ing. IL being for the most part seepage
and is taken up from the upper hori-
+ IONS. Also the increment of tempera-
I ture with the depth is very low. there
+ being only one degree of Increment in
/ temperature for 2uo feet of depth. !
have on other occasions expressed the
opinion that minin. will be found feast
( bic 10 a depth of about 10000 feet
As to rapidity OF exploration We min
| ing engineers of South Africa. chiefly
American engineers. pride ourselves in
holding the worlds record in respect of
| speed in mining. and work that has
taken centuries in The history of Eu-
ropean mining will be done in a decade
under the conditions that obtain with
US Therefore when | speak of mining
out an area in the aggregate some
thirty miles long to vertical depth of
two miles l must prepare you by these
statements | have just made as TO our
capa bility 10 undertake rapid exploita-
ton. If | must hazard an expression
of opinion. from which the element of
guess. though unscientific. cannot be
q hsr Cd i Unt1i6
the life of the WitwatersraDd at thirty
years. Ii mas be short life. but il
VIZ be a golden one. for within that
period more than -. 600 90 900 of gold
will have been extracted from the
mines of that district. 3 sum more than
double that Of the entire production of