Gold Mining In Africa

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A change so unexpected and a development never known before were due to the discovery in 1886 of the greatest gold mines of all history, ancient and modern. Before long it became necessary to dig a lot deeper to reach the gold beneath the ground, resulting in deeper mines requiring new and expensive machines to extract the precious metal. Mining difficulties helped to create and utilise new technology in the mines of southern Africa, where new means of extraction were needed in mining industry. Technological innovations in deep-level mining increased the production of raw materials in African mines, and also boosted the value of the African economy. Africa finally got the attention of the world through its wealth of raw materials which turned…show more content…
The earlier gold mining in the southern Africa, long before the Europeans colonised African regions was evidence in Zimbabwe. The scale of precolonial gold production in southern Africa may have been extensive and of considerable importance in the economies of some of the Late Iron Age Kingdoms regions. In the past the extraction of the precious metal was probably for making jewelleries and ornaments for the royal families. This may be supported by evidence found in the 13th century AD in Mapungubwe on the Limpopo River, where gold jewellers were found in royal cemeteries yard. With the Zimbabwean gold belts being the source of most gold that was mined in the southern Africa during the Late Iron Age got the attention of the Islamic traders. Who then had well established trade routes along the major navigable rivers of southern Africa soon after recognising the quality of gold. This had important economic and political consequences in the sub-continent and for the Indian Ocean maritime…show more content…
The appearance of deep-level, saw the mine owners introducing a series of technological innovations in the Rand mines which greatly facilitated the programme of expanded production. This saw the ever-increasing numbers of black and white miners who made their way to new goldfields at the turn of the century. The availability of white mining engineers played a significant role in organising an industry which was the biggest employer of labour in South Africa, also the greatest spur to economic growth. However, all this benefits came with the high cost of white skilled labour which had negative impact on mining industry, leading to mine owners reducing the number of the expensive white labour. This may have occurred after the mine owner developed the mentality that also the unskilled black labour can operate the new mining machineries at lower cost compared to the whites. This caused the feud between the white workers and the owners, which overshadowed the struggle of African mineworkers from 1907 to

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