Home › About GCR ›

Key facts about the GCR

1.    The Gauteng City-Region is home to the deepest mine in the world

The Gauteng City-Region is home to the deepest mine in the world: the Mponeng mine near Carletonville in western Gauteng at 4 kilometers. It is part of the Merafong municipality which is a local municipality in the West Rand District Municipality. Its boundaries enclose some of the richest gold mines in the world. Merafong's historical development is intertwined with the discovery of rich gold deposits in the early 1930s.
 
This municipality is notable for successfully re-incorporating itself into Gauteng from North West Province after cross-border municipalities were abolished in 2005. Violent protests in the township of Khutsong saw the municipality re-incorporated into Gauteng in 2009.
 
Mponeng, the deepest mine in the world, is among many mines in the world which are being deepened in order to extract gold deposits. Ultra deep mining holds great appeal as technology improves and the search for natural resources continue. As a result many mines are constantly being deepened. It is also increasingly being recognized that shallow gold reserves have been tapped and that greater resources have to be mined at greater depths.
 
Ultra deep mining is hazardous and despite improvements in safety practices, remains a significant safety concern. It is believed that ultra deep mining may precipitate tremors in the earth and due to the weight of the rocks, cause a phenomenon known as rock bursts, which account for many of the 250 deaths in South African mines every year. Massive increases in heat at such depths also pose a challenge for survival of miners at such depths.
 
Source: Ali, Saleem H. (2009) Treasures of the Earth: need, greed and a sustainable future. New Haven and London: Yale University Press
AngloGold Ashanti website http://www.anglogold.co.za
Merafong local municipality website http://www.merafong.gov.za/about/about.aspx
 
 
2.    The Longest Cable Stayed Bridge in Southern Africa
Johannesburg has the distinction of building the Nelson Mandela bridge, the longest cable-stayed bridge in southern Africa. It has a total length of 284 meters. The Nelson Mandela bridge is part of a R300 million inner city renewal programme undertaken by Blue IQ, a Gauteng provincial economic development initiative. The bridge connects the Johannesburg inner city to Braamfontein and is also strategically positioned between two other major spatial developments in the city, the Newtown Cultural Precinct and the Constitutional Hill Precinct in Braamfontein. The bridge has popularly come to represent the new spirit of post-apartheid Johannesburg. The symbolism of linkage and unity provided by the bridge inspired its naming after Nelson Mandela and his role in reconciliation and nation-building in South Africa.
 
Source: Joburg Metro Council, The Passion Behind a City Joburg! Vol 2 2008, Affinity Publishing
 
 
3.    Gauteng is the birthplace of humankind over 3 million years ago and hosts 15 major fossil sites, including ‘Mrs Ples’ and ‘Little Foot’.
The Gauteng City-Region is richly endowed in the history of early humankind. Some of the world’s earliest hominid sites are located in Gauteng. Found in the provinces of Gauteng and North West, the fossil sites cover an area of 47 000 hectares. In 1947, the skull of an adult female Australopithecus Africanus known as Mrs Ples, was discovered in Sterkfontein. Mrs. Ples is estimated to be between 2.6 and 2.8 million years old. In 1997 a near complete skeleton of an early hominid was found in the caves, estimated to be 3.3 million years old. The complete yield of hominid sites is approximated at 500 and excavations are ongoing. In 1999 Unesco declared the Cradle of Humankind a World Heritage Site.
 
Source: South Africa info website http:///www.worldheritagesite.org
 
 
4.    Cullinan: The Largest Rough Diamond in the World
The area of Cullinan, located 30 km to the east of Tshwane, is notable for producing the largest rough-cut diamond in the world. The Cullinan Diamond, or later known as Star as Africa, recovered at the Cullinan diamond mine in 1905, weighed 3 106 carats uncut. It was named after the owner of the mine, Sir Thomas Cullinan, bought by the Transvaal government and presented to King Edward VII on his 66th birthday. The largest polished gem from the stone was named the Cullinan I or the Great Star of Africa. At 530.2 carats (106.0 g) it was the largest cut diamond until the Golden Jubilee from the same mine was cut to a weight of 545.7 carats (109.1 g) in 1985. (Cullinan has produced many famous gemstones, including the Hollywood romance diamond, the Taylor-Burton, and the well-known Niarchos Diamond, a gift from Stavros Nairchos, the Greek shipping magnate to his then wife, Charlotte Ford of the Ford family).
 
The Cullinan mine is the only significant source of blue diamonds in the world.
 
The mine is situated over the largest kimberlite pipes in the world. Kimberlite is an important source of mined diamonds. Kimberlite is a kind of potassic volcanic rock best known for carrying diamonds to the surface of the earth.
 
The Cullinan mine recently yielded a 507-carat white diamond said to be among the top 20 largest high-quality rough diamonds ever found worldwide. This historic find was made on Heritage Day of September 2009.
 
Source: Harlow, G. (eds) (1998) The Nature of Diamonds Cambridge Press
 
 
5.    Vilakazi Street in Soweto is the only street in the world to have been home to two Nobel Prize winners, Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu.
The Vilakazi Street precinct in Orlando West, Soweto is richly steeped in South African struggle history. Vilakazi Street is famed for having housed two Nobel Peace Prize winners, former state president Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The Orlando West school, notable for its role in the Soweto riots of 1976, is located in Vilakazi Street. One of the 23 fatalities on 16 June 1976 was 12 year old Hector Pietersen, who was shot by police on the corner of Vilakazi Street. The iconic image of Hector Pietersen dying in the arms of a fellow student, captured the brutality of the apartheid government and the key role played by the youth in South Africa’s liberation struggle. Vilakazi Street has since become an important center of local economic development for Soweto and is widely known for its promotion of heritage tourism. Heritage tourism is a particular branch of tourism which is centrally focused on the development and preservation of historical and cultural resources.
 
Vilakazi Street itself was named after Dr BW Vilakazi, one of South Africa’s foremost black intellectuals. He has the distinction of being the first black lecturer at Wits University, although apartheid restrictions prohibited him from being officially titled a lecturer. He earned a PhD in literature whilst at Wits University. His intellectual legacy is the development and promotion of indigenous languages through poetry and literature, and he is often cited as part of the foundations of modern South African literature.