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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
Gauteng

Gauteng is a Provinces of South Africa of South Africa. It was formed from part of the old Transvaal after South Africa's first all-race elections on 27 April 1994....
 in South Africa
South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
. The word in Afrikaans
Afrikaans

Afrikaans is an Indo-European language, derived from Dutch language and thus classified as Low Franconian languages West Germanic languages. It is mainly spoken in South Africa and Namibia, with smaller numbers of speakers living in Botswana, Angola, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Zambia, Australia, New Zealand, United States of America, Taiwa...
 means "the ridge of white waters". Geologically it is complex, but the principal formations are quartzites, conglomerates
Conglomerate (geology)

A conglomerate is a Rock consisting of individual stones that have become cemented together. Conglomerates are sedimentary rocks consisting of rounded fragments and are thus differentiated from breccias, which consist of angular clasts....
 and shales
Shalės

Shal?s is a municipality in the Elbasan District, Elbasan County, central Albania.References...
 of the Witwatersrand System. It forms a continental divide
Continental Divide

The Continental Divide of the Americas, or merely the Continental Divide or Great Divide, is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the drainage basin that drain into the Pacific Ocean from, 1) those river systems which drain into the Atlantic Ocean , and 2)...
 with run-off to the north draining into the Limpopo River
Limpopo River

The Limpopo River rises in central southern Africa, and flows generally eastwards to the Indian Ocean. It is around long, with a drainage basin in size....
 and Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
 and to the south draining into the Orange River
Orange River

The Orange River , Gariep River, Groote River or Senqu River is the longest river in South Africa. It rises in the Drakensberg mountains in Lesotho, flowing westwards through South Africa to the Atlantic Ocean....
 and Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
.






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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
Gauteng

Gauteng is a Provinces of South Africa of South Africa. It was formed from part of the old Transvaal after South Africa's first all-race elections on 27 April 1994....
 in South Africa
South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
. The word in Afrikaans
Afrikaans

Afrikaans is an Indo-European language, derived from Dutch language and thus classified as Low Franconian languages West Germanic languages. It is mainly spoken in South Africa and Namibia, with smaller numbers of speakers living in Botswana, Angola, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Zambia, Australia, New Zealand, United States of America, Taiwa...
 means "the ridge of white waters". Geologically it is complex, but the principal formations are quartzites, conglomerates
Conglomerate (geology)

A conglomerate is a Rock consisting of individual stones that have become cemented together. Conglomerates are sedimentary rocks consisting of rounded fragments and are thus differentiated from breccias, which consist of angular clasts....
 and shales
Shalės

Shal?s is a municipality in the Elbasan District, Elbasan County, central Albania.References...
 of the Witwatersrand System. It forms a continental divide
Continental Divide

The Continental Divide of the Americas, or merely the Continental Divide or Great Divide, is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the drainage basin that drain into the Pacific Ocean from, 1) those river systems which drain into the Atlantic Ocean , and 2)...
 with run-off to the north draining into the Limpopo River
Limpopo River

The Limpopo River rises in central southern Africa, and flows generally eastwards to the Indian Ocean. It is around long, with a drainage basin in size....
 and Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
 and to the south draining into the Orange River
Orange River

The Orange River , Gariep River, Groote River or Senqu River is the longest river in South Africa. It rises in the Drakensberg mountains in Lesotho, flowing westwards through South Africa to the Atlantic Ocean....
 and Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
. The Witwatersrand lies within the province of Gauteng
Gauteng

Gauteng is a Provinces of South Africa of South Africa. It was formed from part of the old Transvaal after South Africa's first all-race elections on 27 April 1994....
, formerly called the PWV area, an acronym for Pretoria
Pretoria

Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three Capital , serving as the Executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislature capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital....
, Witwatersrand, and Vereeniging.

The "Rand" or reef
Reef

In nautical terminology, a reef is a Rock , bar , or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water .Many reefs result from abiotic processes?deposition of sand, wave erosion planning down rock outcrops, and other natural processes?but the best-known reefs are the coral reefs of tropical waters developed through biotic processes do...
, as the Witwatersrand is sometimes known, is famous for being the source of 40% of the gold
Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and atomic number 79. It is a highly sought-after precious metal, having been used as money, as a store of value, in jewelry, in sculpture, and for ornamentation since the beginning of recorded history....
 ever mined from the earth
Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
. It extends for 280 kilometres from Klerksdorp in the west to Bethal
Bethal

Bethal is a small farming town in Mpumalanga, South Africa. The farms in the region produce maize, sunflower seeds, sorghum, rye and potatoes. The town was named after the combined names of the wives of the owners of the farm Blesbokspruit, Elizabeth du Plooy and Alida Naude....
 in the east and is 3.6 kilometres (12,000 feet) deep in places. The South African currency
South African rand

The rand is the currency of South Africa. It takes its name from the Witwatersrand , the ridge upon which Johannesburg is built and where most of South Africa's gold deposits were found....
 was named after it. The reef's most northerly tip was discovered only a few kilometers from the present day town of Magaliesburg, at Blaauwbank, in 1874.

Witwatersrand also denotes the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area
Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area

The Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area is the name of the area surrounding the city of Johannesburg, in South Africa. It includes Johannesburg and the areas of the East Rand and West Rand....
, which spans the length of the gold-bearing reef. The metropolitan area is oblong in shape and runs from the area of Randfontein and Carletonville in the west to Springs in the east. It includes the vast urban areas of the East and West Rand, and Soweto
Soweto

Soweto is an urban area in Regions of Johannesburg, in Gauteng, South Africa. Its name is an English language Abbreviation#Syllabic_abbreviation, short for South Western Township....
.

JH Davis, an Englishman was reported to have found gold "in considerable quantities" in July 1852 at Paardekraal near Krugersdorp, which was the earliest discovery on the Rand. Davis had sold £600 worth of gold to the Transvaal Treasury and had shortly thereafter been ordered out of the country in accordance with the prevailing policy of secrecy. In October 1853 Pieter Jacob Marais, born in Cape Town on 31 July 1826, discovered gold on the banks of the Jukskei River - this find too was hushed up. The first mining concern (the Nil Desperandum Co-operative Gold Company) was formed at Blaauwbank in 1874. Gold was mined at various places on the Rand up to 1886, when the discovery of the Witwatersrand Main Reef set off the historic gold rush. The subsequent discovery of other rich and profitable veins of gold eventually led to the creation of the largest urban conglomeration in Sub-Saharan Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
.