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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
 WorldCat |
| Title: | Gold mining in Zululand |
| Author: | Minnaar, Anthony |
| Year: | 2006 |
| Periodical: | New contree: a journal of historical and human sciences for Southern Africa |
| Issue: | 51 |
| Pages: | 55-86 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic terms: | South Africa Zululand |
| Subject: | gold mining |
| Abstract: | From the mid-1880s onwards, such is the geological nature of the Zululand region of present-day KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, that rich pockets of gold were constantly being discovered. At regular intervals various 'gold strikes' would spark off great excitement and lead to a gold rush, which usually turned out to be short lived. The first of these Zululand gold rushes took place in 1886 at Mfongosi. Despite its failure, and the loss by speculators of large sums of money on machinery and costly operations at the Nondweni and Denny-Dalton goldfields, gold prospecting in Zululand continued, at varying paces of frenzy, almost unabated for more than fifty years. Within the context of power politics, particularly in the lead up to the Second Anglo-Boer War, the Natal colonial government encouraged mining exploration activities in the whole colony of Natal, including the Zululand region, in the wishful hope of becoming an alternative to the Witwatersrand for profitable gold mining. However, while a number of small operations remained reasonably payable over a number of years and some gold mines struck extremely rich pockets, a reef rivalling that at the Witwatersrand was not discovered. Notes, ref., sum. in Afrikaans. [ASC Leiden abstract] |
