Tag: Discovery Gold Transvaal Witwatersrand

Explorers looking for gold became aware the there was some evidence of payable gold deposits in the are known as the Witwatersrand. The quartzite reefs being white made their gold content clearly visible. Explorers concentrated on mining this reef but it held no long term promise. They found other reefs such as Confidence and Bird and mined these but also no great success. JG Bantjes, son of a well known lawyer, followed his father’s career but decided to try his hand at gold mining. he had limited success. He had identified the conglomerate Banket reef and was keen on mining it. He bought land near the town of Florida in Transvaal where he found this reef. He then persuaded Struben and later Robinson to mine this reef which became known as the Main reef.