CHAPTER IX.
Gold-Mining.
T T is the prospect of the rapid acquisition of wealth which makes men leave their home and expose themselves to unknowm difficulties and unknown dangers in new countries. The most efficient magnet is gold. In the middle of the century we have seen it at work populating North America and Australia : during the closing years of the century we see this same powerful influence in full operation in South Africa.
The mineral wealth of South Africa is both varied and widely distributed.
Iron is found in the Cape Colony, in the Orange Free State and in Natal, and there are ample deposits of this useful metal in the Transvaal and in the territories of the Chartered Company. At present this metal is not worked.
Copper-mining is the oldest of the mineral industries of (modern) South Africa. The deposits lie in the northwestern corner of the Cape Colony. Copper-mining was commenced in 1852; and by 1864 the export had risen t0 ^100,000 in value. Since that date the annual output has reached a value varying between ^250,000 and ^800,000. Out of the annual output of 30,000 tons, r.ine-tenths (27,000 tons) are raised by the Cape Copper Mining Company. Ookiep, where these mines lie, is connected by a line of railway, ninety miles in length, with Port Nolloth.
Silver is found in the Cape Colony, but not in payable
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