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Click The Image Above To Visit The Randfontein Publicity Association (RPA) |
RANDFONTEIN ESATES HAS CRUSHED THE LARGEST TONNAGE OF ORE ON THE WITWATERSRAND
The Randfontein Estates Gold Mining Company, Witwatersrand, Limited, was formed in 1889, and had many a year passed the distinction of crushing the largest tonnage of ore annually of all the mines on the Witwatersrand. It was not however the largest producer of gold because the ore was low grade.
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Like the Randfontein town, the company got it's name from the farm Randfontein No. 3, on which farm gold was first discovered in this area.
The founders of the Company were the late Sir Joseph Robinson and the late Herman Eckstein. The original capital was £2 000 000 in £1 shares, and most of this capitol was expended in acquiring gold bearing farms and mining rights.
The first annual report stated that the Company owned 28 918 acres, and also mining leases on a further 1 345 acres. It is of interest that in 1890 the Company was granted a Township Area of 460 acres situated on the farm Randfontein, at the point where roads from Kimberley, Potchefstroom, Bechuanaland and Johannesburg converged.
This township was situated just north of the Robinson Lake, but it was too far away from the place where the first active mining operation was commenced: this was about three-quarters of a mile east of the Town Hall.
