THE GOLD MINES OF THE WITWATERSRAND AND THE DETERMINATION OF THEIR VALUE (1904)

White & blue cloth covers. Gilt title to the front cover. Title page, xii, 135 pages, with 3 multiple folding tables in pocket at the rear and numerous diagrams and plans (1 multiple folding) in text block. The cloth covers appear a wee bit dirty, content pages clean.

Leopold Kessler, German mining engineer and Zionist, was the son of Jacob Kessler and his wife Johanna Feig. He studied at the mining academy in Freiberg, then for a year at the Royal School of Mines in Berlin, and returned to Freiberg to complete his studies. His experiences of anti-Semitism led him to leave Germany. After working for some time as a mining engineer in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) he settled in Johannesburg in 1893 and took part in the development of Crown Mines and the Kleinfontein gold mine.

In June 1894 he requested a patent for a new method to make bricks from mine tailings and mud. That same year he became a member of the newly established Chemical and Metallurgical Society of South Africa (from 1902 the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa). He was still a member in 1905, when he was listed as a consulting mining engineer and metallurgist, but of unknown address. He was an early member also of the Geological Society of South Africa (founded in 1895) and of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science (founded in 1902). In 1902 he published his Valuation plan of the Witwatersrand goldfields (London, 1902), followed two years later by The gold mines of the Witwatersrand and the determination of their value (London, 1904, 135 pp)

(https://www.s2a3.org.za/bio/Biograph_final.php?serial=1520)