Blyvooruitzicht
Encyclopedia
Blyvooruitzicht is a gold-mining village in Gauteng
, South Africa
. It is situated about 3.5 km south of the centre of Carletonville and 80 km westwards from Johannesburg
.
In the late 60's and early 70's it boasted having the highest earnings per capita in the world. However taking into account that it was proclaimed at the height of the apartheid era, it is probable that these statistics did not factor in the "non white" worker's earnings.
rock formations which eroded with the lowering of the water table by extensive underground mining and its continuous pumping operations.
On 3 August 1964 two houses and parts of two others disappeared down a massive sinkhole in which the Oosthuizen family of four perished. No trace was ever found of them, their house or their car. A monument was erected on the hill overlooking the area where the Westdene suburb stood. The fitting inscription on the monument reads, "God himself laid them to rest".
An ancient Sinkhole south west of the village called the Hutgrot Cave was the shelter of the Batswana tribes during the Mzilikazi
raids.
Basin. Established in 1937, it was the first mine on the West Wits line. Production started here in 1942 and Blyvoor has been an operation of DRDGOLD since 1997.
Blyvoor has two main gold-bearing horizons: the Carbon Leader Reef (CLR), which is one of the principal ore bodies of the Carletonville goldfield; and the Middelvlei Reef, which is some 75 metres above the CLR horizon. At present mining is concentrated on No 4 and No 6 shafts with some mining taking place from No 5 shaft.
Blyvoor also treats gold-bearing slimes dams and waste rock dumps. The mine’s carbon-in-leach (CIL) plant is currently processing some 300 000 tonnes of tailings
per month.
Blyvoor, which has plant capacity of around 400 000 tonnes a month, produces some 166 000 ounces of gold per year. The mine employs 4 520 people including contractors.
from the slime dams created by gold mining operations were later reprocessed for uranium extraction.
Gauteng
Gauteng is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. It was formed from part of the old Transvaal Province after South Africa's first all-race elections on 27 April 1994...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. It is situated about 3.5 km south of the centre of Carletonville and 80 km westwards from Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
.
History
The name of the village is of Dutch origin meaning "happy prospect". The farm Blyvooruitzicht was first farmed by Pieter Daniël Roux and the main road through the current village is named after him. Established in 1937, Blyvooruitzicht village was built to house the workers of the Blyvooruitzicht Gold Mine which was the first to mine on the gold of the West Wits line. Production started in 1942 and Blyvoor has been an operation of DRDGOLD since 1997.In the late 60's and early 70's it boasted having the highest earnings per capita in the world. However taking into account that it was proclaimed at the height of the apartheid era, it is probable that these statistics did not factor in the "non white" worker's earnings.
Sinkholes
The area became notorious for its sinkholes and unstable ground conditions. This is as a result of a high proliferation of DolomiteDolomite
Dolomite is a carbonate mineral composed of calcium magnesium carbonate CaMg2. The term is also used to describe the sedimentary carbonate rock dolostone....
rock formations which eroded with the lowering of the water table by extensive underground mining and its continuous pumping operations.
On 3 August 1964 two houses and parts of two others disappeared down a massive sinkhole in which the Oosthuizen family of four perished. No trace was ever found of them, their house or their car. A monument was erected on the hill overlooking the area where the Westdene suburb stood. The fitting inscription on the monument reads, "God himself laid them to rest".
An ancient Sinkhole south west of the village called the Hutgrot Cave was the shelter of the Batswana tribes during the Mzilikazi
Mzilikazi
Mzilikazi , also sometimes called Mosilikatze, was a Southern African king who founded the Matabele kingdom , Matabeleland, in what became Rhodesia and is now Zimbabwe. He was born the son of Matshobana near Mkuze, Zululand and died at Ingama, Matabeleland...
raids.
The Villagers
Blyvoor mine and village was the setting for a soap opera filmed in the 1970s called the "The Villagers".Isidingo
The highest point in the village is a hill called "Isidingo", which is where the mine Manager's house was built. This is from where the current soap opera "Isidingo" derives its name.Gold
Blyvooruitzicht Gold Mining Company Limited (Blyvoor), has underground and surface operations and is situated on the north-western edge of the WitwatersrandWitwatersrand
The Witwatersrand is a low, sedimentary range of hills, at an elevation of 1700–1800 metres above sea-level, which runs in an east-west direction through Gauteng in South Africa. The word in Afrikaans means "the ridge of white waters". Geologically it is complex, but the principal formations...
Basin. Established in 1937, it was the first mine on the West Wits line. Production started here in 1942 and Blyvoor has been an operation of DRDGOLD since 1997.
Blyvoor has two main gold-bearing horizons: the Carbon Leader Reef (CLR), which is one of the principal ore bodies of the Carletonville goldfield; and the Middelvlei Reef, which is some 75 metres above the CLR horizon. At present mining is concentrated on No 4 and No 6 shafts with some mining taking place from No 5 shaft.
Blyvoor also treats gold-bearing slimes dams and waste rock dumps. The mine’s carbon-in-leach (CIL) plant is currently processing some 300 000 tonnes of tailings
Tailings
Tailings, also called mine dumps, slimes, tails, leach residue, or slickens, are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction of an ore...
per month.
Blyvoor, which has plant capacity of around 400 000 tonnes a month, produces some 166 000 ounces of gold per year. The mine employs 4 520 people including contractors.
Uranium
A pilot uranium extraction plant was put in operation at Blyvooruitzicht in October 1949 and by 1953 uranuim production was done at large scale.. TailingsTailings
Tailings, also called mine dumps, slimes, tails, leach residue, or slickens, are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction of an ore...
from the slime dams created by gold mining operations were later reprocessed for uranium extraction.