#South africa diamond rush free#

Last year, mineral resources minister Gwede Mantashe caused controversy by trying to introduce a new mining charter that would increase the minimum percentage of black ownership of mining rights from 26% to 30% while a compromise has since been worked out, tension remains between those historically advantaged and those traditionally disadvantaged by the mining industry. While Apartheid is no longer a government policy, its impacts are still felt across South Africa, particularly in mining.

Violence, strikes and an uncertain future The paper also notes that as mineral reserves run low, miners demand better working conditions, and itinerant workers move back to their homes and families, the mining sector became less productive for companies, with the percentage of the world’s gold produced by these companies falling from 70% in the middle of the 20th century to 25% by 2004.Īpartheid, the government policy of racial segregation, influenced and encouraged this reliance on “cheap black labour”, legitimising the division between a small group of white owners responsible for managing mining companies and more significant numbers of black workers involved in the day-to-day running of operations. The Journal of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy reported that the number of gold miners employed in “cheap black labour” jumped from 14,000 in 1890 to 534,000 in 1986. The sector also began to struggle following generations of reliance on migrant labour, which old racial divisions influenced. The development of diamond projects in countries such as Russia dramatically depleted the value of De Beers, whose near-monopoly over the global diamond trade began to erode according to analyst Paul Zimnisky, the company’s share of the global rough diamond industry fell from 80% in 1987 to less than 60% by the turn of the century, and just 35% by 2019.

Apartheid and social tensionsĪlongside these internal fractures, the South African mining industry was under additional pressure by overseas developments in the latter half of the 20th century. But police broke up the protest by killing 12 striking miners, establishing a conflict between mining unions and government forces that would be a feature of the sector in years to come. That year, the African Mineworkers Union went on strike, with 60,000 workers downing tools to demand higher wages. The number of people employed in mining swelled, with up to 158,000 people working in the sector by 1946 and 119 separate unions established to represent their political interests. However, these industrial changes sparked significant social changes, with the number of people employed in manufacturing alone increasing by 60% during the Second World War. The construction of power stations on the coalfields of Witbank and Delmas established fossil fuels, and by extension mining, as the primary source of South African power, while the combination of the Venterspost, Libanon and Kloof gold mines into a single operation by 1968 established a project that has gone on to produce around 15,000kg of gold per year. Post-war expansionĪfter the World Wars, South African mining continued to expand, with several new uses for minerals and mining products, such as platinum in the petroleum industry, to improve fuel’s octane rating. The South African Minerals Council reports that the mines built along this first deposit, in an area known as Mashishing, have accounted for more than three-quarters of the world’s total platinum output since commercial operations began. Over five thousand black workers were admitted to a local hospital with conditions throughout the mine’s life.įollowing the closure of the Big Hole with the outbreak of the First World War, attention turned towards platinum mining, with the first deposit discovered in 1924. White Briton Cecil Rhodes served as the mine’s governor and later founded De Beers, while over one thousand black workers died during mining or from diseases contracted during work. Operations were again characterised by racial disparity. While the mine would yield 2,720kg of diamonds and help establish the De Beers mining company, which remains a major industry player to this day. Until the mine’s closure in 1914, up to 50,000 miners excavated the deepest hole ever dug by hand, extending 215 metres underground.

The first diamonds were uncovered at the site of the Big Hole in 1871.

#South africa diamond rush free#

In 1879, the Orange Free State government-commissioned English-born George William Stow to uncover coal deposits he would later move to Kimberley, the famous Big Hole diamond mine site. In the 1860s, two notable diamonds were unearthed The 21-carat Eureka diamond and the 83-carat Star of South Africa, inspiring a diamond rush in the region aided by the more established coal industry.