Today in history: Proclamation of first mines in Johannesburg
Witwatersrand Commissioner of Mines, Friedrich Peter Jacob (Carl) von Brandis, proclaimed the first mining activities on 20 September 1886.
Though gold was discovered near Krugersdorp in July 1852, mining activities started in various places on the Witwatersrand.
The first gold from the Main Reef on the Witwatersrand was obtained in 1885, after which Johannesburg was laid out in 1886.
The Witwatersrand Commissioner of Mines, Friedrich Peter Jacob (Carl) von Brandis, proclaimed the first mining activities on 20 September 1886 on the farm Randjeslaagte, a piece of rocky ‘left-over’ ground after surrounding farms had been surveyed.
He was later appointed as the first landdrost of Johannesburg and the digging then started on 4 October 1886.
Within a few years, more than a hundred small mines came into being along the whole Witwatersrand.
These farms stretched from what is now known as Randfontein in the west to Springs and Nigel in the east.
As workings became deeper, the mines had to amalgamate to form economic units.
Information sourced from: South African History Online.
