mining industry depends, these are the employment of the most improved
methods and means of production. They comprise the most perfected
machinery and appliances, and the latest processes of metallurgical and
chemical science. Speaking generally, it may be said that on the Rand at
the present time are employed the most up-to-date skill and technical
knowledge, and the latest devised mechanical appliances. This, by the
way, is only true of individual mines however. The equipment of the mass
varies greatly, and necessarily so, since the conditions of one mine
differ vastly from those of its neighbour; and distant and even
contiguous localities require unlike treatment, according to the nature
of the ore or reef worked and other local conditions. The improvement
effected hitherto is evidence, however, of the initiation and energy
which have been displayed by the heads of the mining industry in the
past, and an earnest for the future, while the progress achieved abides
as an invaluable guide for all future mining operations in like
geological formations.
The knowledge of how best to treat the peculiarities of the banket reef
has, however, only been slowly gained, and at the cost of much money and
many unavoidable blunders. For instance, the only metallurgical
operation for the extraction of gold employed up to 1889 was the
stamping mill, and fine gold and amalgam were necessarily abundant in
the tailings which were cast away on the spoil heap. The cyanide
process, and that of the treatment of slimes, were only applied in 1891
and 1898 respectively. Their use has added millions to the yearly output
of gold. The amalgamation process, the chlorination treatment of
concentrates, and the use of frue vanners are other innovations
gradually introduced as results of experiment and experience, and which
have likewise increased the efficacy of the extractive operations.
Similar progress has been shown in the improvement effected in the
mechanical equipment. At first the mining operations were confined to
the primitive digging of a huge trench over the site of the outcrop,
with the simplest delver's tools furnished by the locality. This method
has advanced to the stage of sinking shafts to the enormous depth of a
mile into the bowels of the earth, equipped with the most elaborate
hoisting plant, with underground equipment lit and worked by
electricity, and the complementary surface establishments, at a cost
running into hundreds of thousands of pounds. There yet lies before the
industry the general adoption, not only of these but of other
improvements which experience has shown to be desirable, such as the
practice of sorting of ore, the use of heavier batteries on the score of
greater economy, &c., and their utilisation is merely a question of
time. As, therefore, all these improvements and betterments have been
successively made, and the mining industry is only now gradually--it is
not yet, so far as a large number of them are concerned--entering into
the full use of them, it is obvious that future mining operations must
not only enjoy the same favouring circumstances as those which enabled
the huge mining output of the past, but a very much better environment,
through the more general use of all those methods which experience and
science have shown to be advisable. As a consequence, and in the measure
of the value of these improvements, will the effective output be
ameliorated from now onwards.
The value of the improved circumstances of the mining industry alluded
to is convertible into figures in the terms of working costs and
divisible dividends. The former may be said to be the barometer of the
latter. In the past, in the early days of the mining industry, when the
problems of mine equipment and gold extraction and winning were only
imperfectly understood, the wasteful expenditure of money on inefficient
methods and appliances swallowed up in many cases every vestige of
profit.
[Illustration: CYANIDE WORKS. WITWATERSRAND GOLD-MINING CO.
(Photo by Horace W. Nicholls, Johannesburg)]
It was incidental to the first operations on the then unknown geological
formation of the Rand, when the very science of the goldfields had to be
created. Costs of working on the Rand are now, through the excellent
system devised by the Chamber of Mines, tabulated so that the outlay of
individual mines, or of the mining industry in the aggregate, may be
seen at any moment at a glance. For instance, taking the record for the
eight years from 1890 to 1898 inclusive, for example, the working costs
ranged from 80.8 per cent. of the total value of the gold produced by
eighty-five companies in 1890 down to 68.1 per cent. in 1898, the last
full year before the war, the decrease showing the extent of the
progress made in reducing the working costs. Simultaneously the
dividends increased from 19.2 to 31.9 per cent., testifying to the close
kinship with the costs factor. These figures are a general average taken
over the aggregate of the mines working, and do not represent the ratios
of working costs of individual mines, which differ of course according
to the greater richness of the ore, the fewer difficulties to be
dealt with in winning it, and the methods employed to secure the end in
view. This is exemplified by the fact that in a few of the best equipped
mines costs have been brought down to as low as 17s. 6d. per ton, while
on others they rise to 79s. 6d. and above. The Robinson mine is a case
where, despite adverse circumstances, the enlightened employment of the
latest appliances of science and mechanics has resulted in reducing
costs to an extremely low level. In 1888 the working costs of the mine
were 72s. 1d. per ton; in 1892 they were reduced to 46s. 5d., and in
1896 to 30s. 11d. They have subsequently been reduced to a still lower
figure, and this despite the fact that the ore changed from an oxidised
character to a pyritic, involving greater difficulty and cost to treat.
This mine was the first to introduce frue vanners, the cyanide process
and the treatment of slimes, expending as much as £80,000 in the last
innovation. By means of these it raised its gold extraction from 65 to
90 per cent., and gave encouragement and impetus to all mining on these
fields. The latest costs published for the month of September this year
of thirty-six mines in working give an average of 26s. 3d. per ton,
which shows that operating charges are now at about the same ratio as
they were before the war. Although so reduced, however, they are still
relatively higher than they may be expected to be when the mines settle
back into their normal grooves. The reason for this is that only a few
mines are now working up to their full battery power, and, while costs
are on the full scale, results are less, surface dumps are being drawn
upon for mill service instead of the mine itself, owing to lack of full
supply of labour, &c. When, however, the effects of the important fiscal
reductions just made have had time to exercise their effect in reducing
the cost of imported mining stores, foodstuffs, and the smaller
machinery and metal goods charged by the mines to the working account,
further reductions in the working costs will be possible. Of the actual
money value of this per ton of ore milled, various opinions have been
ventured. It has been estimated by experts that it is possible under
favouring circumstances to reduce the expense of working by some 10s.
per ton, at which rate ore yielding over 5.6 dwt. per ton bullion could
be made to yield a profit. The importance of this not only in improving
the present position of all mining undertakings, but in stimulating the
low-grade mines to come into the working stage, can hardly be
overestimated. With the various difficulties besetting the mining
industry removed, the future working cost level should be lower than at
any preceding period, taking into account the benefit of the recent
fiscal reductions and other governmental assistance in prospect.
[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF THE SURFACE WORKS OF A RAND GOLD MINE
(KNIGHT'S)
Showing the head-gear at top of the shaft, the stacks locating the
engine-rooms. A sloping tramway will be seen leading down from the
shaft-head, and iron waggons bringing the crushed ore, and taking it
away to the "battery" or "mill." The waggons are driven by an endless
wire rope, and discharge automatically. Beyond, in the middle distance,
may be seen the huge white heap of "tailings," the waste débris after
the gold has been extracted. Each mine has its own electric-light plant.
Photo by Barnett & Co., Johannesburg]
Allusion has been made to the probable continuation of the Rand
formation beyond its present area; but, as a matter of fact, the
Witwatersrand series of reefs, or an amplification of them, has been
more or less proved for a distance of nearly one hundred miles to the
north and south. The strike of the reefs is not uniformly continuous--in
fact, the reefs are intersected by quite a numerous series of faults,
and in many places they have been subjected to extensive denudation, to
the extent of complete obliteration of the outcrop in places.
Nevertheless at various points very remunerative mines have been
established, and although, on the whole, the character of possessing a
low-grade ore is attributed to these reefs, this is probably due more to
the very incomplete prospecting to which the area has been subjected
than to any actual lack contrasted with the better known central section
of the Rand. On this subject Mr. Bleloch makes the apposite observation
that "it is not reasonable to think that only the richest portions of
the Witwatersrand zones have been laid open on the surface, and that the
sections which remain covered are poor. It is probable that many
portions of these hidden areas contain reefs, if not rich at least
payable, and this may especially be hoped for in that region where the
reefs are completely hidden, and at the two ends of which, where they
are exposed, they are found to be payable."
[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF SURFACE WORKS. WITWATERSRAND GOLD-MINING
CO.
(Photo by Horace W. Nicholls, Johannesburg)]
The eastern section of this greater Rand is about 30 miles in extent, or
140 miles if the contours of the outcrops be followed. In the western
section the conglomerate may be followed for 90 miles as far as
Klerksdorp, when the formation swerves back to the Vaal River. So far
back as 1890 gold-bearing reefs on the banks of the Vaal River were
known, and identified by experts as the south-western rim of the
Witwatersrand basin; but lack of railway facilities and cheap coal then
precluded their profitable working. This district is now surrounded by
railways, and the circumstances are so improved that the possibility of
creating a new Rand in the locality is regarded as feasible by both
experts and capitalists, as, albeit only low-grade ore has as yet been
met with, this is properly held to be hardly a fair index of what lies
below, for experience in the Central Rand has shown that the reefs often
improve lower down. The recently reported "new discoveries" of reefs
actually refer to this particular district.
The prospect before these outlying areas of the Rand is further
authoritatively confirmed by a recent report of the Commissioner of
Mines, in which he observes: "While the expansion of the Witwatersrand
is certain, the future of mining in the outlying districts will largely
depend upon the introduction of a mining law which will give greater
facilities and hold out greater rewards to the individual prospector and
small capitalist." This observation is true regarding many other mining
fields in the Transvaal besides that of the Greater Rand.
Although in speaking of gold-mining in the Transvaal the Witwatersrand
is usually meant, it must not be lost sight of that the Transvaal
possesses other gold-fields of great potentialities and of older date.
The De Kaap fields in the Barberton district were the object of
attention before those of the Witwatersrand were discovered, and at one
time bulked hugely in the public eye. Unknown reserves, both of alluvial
and quartz gold, exist, those reefs of the latter which have been worked
yielding in many cases a much higher ratio of gold to the ton than do
the famed banket beds of the Witwatersrand. The Sheba mine in this
district, a case in point, is one of the most remarkable gold mines in
the world, nearly 90 feet of ore having been taken out of some stopes.
The quartz reefs extend over a distance of 30 miles, mainly in the hilly
districts, while the alluvium occurs in most of the river valleys. The
development of the district in the past has been hampered by a number of
remediable causes, chief among which are unscientific working,
monopolist concessions, excessive railway and customs burdens, and
general governmental neglect. With the removal of these, gold-mining
here is believed by experts to offer prospects not inferior, perhaps, to
those of the Rand. The recent Government proclamation throwing open the
district to pegging, with the contemplated modifications in the Gold
Law favouring prospectors, are earnests that this splendid mineral
reserve will at last have that justice done to it which is its due. Next
in importance to the De Kaap gold-fields come those of the Lydenburg
district. The gold exists here in a similar quartz reef formation, with,
also, unusually rich alluvial tracts; but not one-tenth of its resources
are known, although since the start of the workings an output valued at
£2,000,000 sterling has been achieved. A number of paying companies are
at work, but the drawbacks under which the development of these fields
labour are very much those which prevail on the Barberton fields. The
northern gold-beds, including the Zoutpansberg, Klein Letaba, Murchison,
Selati, &c., are likewise of the quartz formation, and they have been
worked to a limited extent over a longer period than either of the two
preceding fields. The Murchison gold-belt is particularly noticeable
among these fields. The principal or southern reef, 18 inches in
thickness, is said to extend for 18 miles, and to be workable down to
1000 feet, and to contain a gold contents of £25,000,000 sterling. The
northern reef is estimated to be capable of producing £20,000,000 of
gold. Development waits, in all these auriferous regions, primarily on
the provision of railway facilities to get up machinery and mining
requisites; and the extension of the Pietersburg line, which has been
promised, or the completion of the long-projected Selati railway from
where it left off, would be as the breath of life to the mining industry
here. Two other promising mining fields, generally separately grouped
but really a portion of the De Kaap system, are the Komati or Steynsdorp
and the Swazieland gold-fields. The former exists on the Swazieland
border, not far from Barberton, and is rightly regarded as merely an
outlier of the mineral formations of that district. The numerous reefs
have, however, only yielded as yet low-grade and refractory ores. The
Swazieland fields have only been prospected in the north-west of that
territory, but the results have shown that a considerable body of ore
exists. Its gold output in 1898 totalled 8256 oz. Minor fields are those
of Malmani, on the western border near Mafeking, the Pretoria quartz
reefs, and the banket beds of Vryheid (the last now incorporated into
Natal). The prospects of all these fields are very large, and their
requirements are alike. Conditions tending to lessen the cost of
working, and facilities to induce the advent of the prospector and to
justify the investment of capital, will reverse in their cases the
dubious records of the past, while adding immensely to the wealth of the
Transvaal's gold production resources.
[Illustration: PRITCHARD STREET, JOHANNESBURG
Photo by Horace W. Nicholls, Johannesburg]
[Illustration: MAP SHEWING THE RELATIVE POSITIONS OF THE TRANSVAAL GOLD
FIELDS.
_From "South Africa," by permission._]
The sum of the foregoing observations is that the future of the
Transvaal mining industry presents a vista of incalculable prosperity.
In the restricted area of the Central Rand alone there is a treasure
of at least £2,871,000,000 awaiting appropriation; and, beyond this huge
sum, there are reserves in the Greater Rand which, reckoned on the basis
of mileage alone, would sixfold this amount. Moreover, as the confines
of the Rand reef formation have not yet been determined, should they be
found to stretch into Natal and Zululand on the one hand, or into
Rhodesia on the other, as recent discoveries would seem to indicate, the
productive possibilities of the future are enlarged proportionately.
Apart from its banket reefs the Transvaal likewise possesses huge gold
reserves in its quartz reef fields in the De Kaap, Lydenburg,
Zoutpansberg, and other districts to the south-east, east, and north,
not to speak of the already opened and promising grounds on the extreme
west, which await development when the Rand conglomerate beds are
exhausted, if they do not--as in all probability they will--receive
attention beforehand. The value of these resources is attested by the
best of all evidence--that of actual productive yield in the past. In
the matter of circumstances, means, and paying results from mining, it
has been shown, and it is incontestible, that the industry now stands,
in every particular, upon a much more advantageous basis than it ever
enjoyed. As regards processes and mechanical appliances, the new era
opens with the substantial asset in hand represented by the accumulated
skill and knowledge of past painful and costly experience and
experiment, so that new mines making a start may lay down their
equipments with the greatest practical certainty and economy and
assurance of successful results, even on low-grade properties previously
deemed unremunerative. In respect of external circumstances, the
conditions are already so improved, or in course of improvement, that
working costs have been--and will be more so in the future, when all the
beneficent proposals contemplated by the Government, and the local
advantages resulting from the new order of things have had time to come
into operation--lessened to the extent of yielding substantial
accretions to the dividends of the already paying mines, while
facilitating the development of the deeper mines, and the multitude of
minor low-grade concerns hitherto incapable of profitable working.
Estimates have been adventured in the earlier part of this chapter of
the amount of the saving of working costs to the extent of 10s. per ton,
but this is a pure approximation, and the actual outcome is likely to be
twofold or more. Similarly the yield of gold per year from the Rand
central district of 37 to 40 millions is only a rough estimate, the
production in the future, as in the past, being likely to be much above
the forecasts, taking into view the beneficent circumstances which will
henceforth rule, the full appraisement of which is at present
impossible.
[Illustration: A MAP OF THE RHODESIAN GOLD FIELDS.
_From "South Africa," by permission._]
Altogether, therefore, the outlook is one of undimmed brightness, for
the misgivings entertained in some quarters regarding new taxation
burdens to be imposed, calculated to hamper or hinder the progress of
the industry, must be allowed to have no shadow of substance. The
pronouncements of the Government hitherto, and the recommendations of
their Transvaal adviser, are clear on this head. Taxation will naturally
have to be borne, and the tax on profits was accepted in principle by
the mining industry before the war. Its incidence, whatever be the
amount, will only reduce to a fractional extent that portion of the
yield set apart for dividends, which will bear the burden, whatever it
be, with the greater ease in view of the accretion of dividends rendered
possible by the new conditions. There are, indeed, grounds for assuming
that a part of the agitation on foot is lacking in singleness of aim,
and engineered by persons who have some secondary object to gain. The
rank and file of the mining industry, as well as the best sense of the
Anglo-Saxon community, has, however, confidence in the Government that
it will do nothing harmful to the best interests of the new Colonies in
general, and its staple industry in particular, and, moreover, will be
true to the English principle of inviting the taxed to its councils. It
is in this particular light that the visit of the Secretary of State for
the Colonies to South Africa has such special interest at this
juncture.
[Illustration: MILL (OR BATTERY) OF A GOLD MINE (SALISBURY AND JUBILEE,
JOHANNESBURG)
The powdered ore is washed down over the plates. The deafening roar from
the stamps sounds in quiet evenings, from a distance, like the roar of
the sea on a rocky coast.
Photo by Barnett & Co., Johannesburg]
THE AGRICULTURAL OUTLOOK
BY LOUIS CRESWICKE
Almost the last message of that prophetic statesman Rhodes was
characteristic: "Support Milner through thick and thin," he curtly and
emphatically said. It is therefore Lord Milner's opinion of the future
settlement of the country which should not merely be read, but marked
and learnt and inwardly digested, by all who are anxious for the
development of British interests in the new Colonies, and who shrink
from a recurrence of the horrible scenes of the past, which owed their
origin mainly to long years of vacillation on the part of Governments
that "swallowed up" the Boers at one moment only to disgorge them the
next. Lord Milner, as Mr. Chamberlain has put it, "is the most effective
instrument in our possession." To his subtle yet gigantic brain, to his
detailed yet comprehensive labours, we are indebted for a plan out of
the chaos, a practical plan by which Briton and Boer may be efficiently
planted side by side on the soil for the agricultural and political
well-being of the newly-acquired Colonies.
It must be remembered that the agricultural resources of the conquered
territory have hitherto been inadequately developed. As it was half a
century ago, so it remains to-day--a pastoral country importing its
cereals, its dairy produce, and even its hay from foreign parts. The
motto of the Boer has never been "Forward," nor has industry been his
strong point. The happy farmstead of five thousand acres which served to
keep his ancestor, served also to keep him comfortably till the date of
the war. Progress lay not with him but with the British settlers in the
region of the Rand, or with the crafty Hollanders who pulled the wires
of the misguided autocrat whose ambitious aim was to "stagger humanity."
The sole appreciable advance came from Great Britain. While mining
hummed apace, agriculture crept laboriously; the country, teeming with
promise, remained in parts entirely barren, in others overrun by the
uncombatted yellow tulip or the incango, both weeds deadly to the soil.
The veldt and the karroo, say the pessimists, offer no home for the
Englishman. They moreover aver that only so long as the mines hold out
will the settler remain in South Africa. But there are others, Lord
Kitchener and Lord Milner among them, who see in the country the latent
possibility of modern North America, or, at least, a great agricultural
future which will endure long after the history of the mineral districts
is a closed volume. The science of irrigation in its most modern
development--"the foundation-stone on which can be built the permanent
prosperity of South Africa"--is capable of transforming the profitless
deserts into flowering gardens and fruitful orchards which in very few
years will do more than pay their way. But to properly develop any
scheme requiring eternal vigilance, industry, and foresight, it is
necessary that a goodly sprinkling of the enterprising British
population shall be dispersed all over the land, so that not in the
towns alone will the characteristics of the dominant race be maintained.
[Illustration: WELLWOOD FARM IN GRAAFF REINET DISTRICT
(Mixed grass and karroo veldt)]