Publisher's blue cloth binding with illustrated dust jacket.
xviii + 363pp. Illustrated.
SIGNED & dated by the author on the title page and additionally signed by P. H. Anderson, the Deputy Chairman of Rand Mines Limited who wrote the foreword.
Interestingly, the image of the man with a shovel on the front cover is actually that of a statue called "Old Mac" which stood outside the Fourth Corner House in Johannesburg. In 1965 Mr. P. H. Anderson, deputy chairman of Rand Mines Ltd., commissioned Madge and George Lang to recreate a small desk statue that he had in his office. The result was this 2.1 metre bronze statue of "Old Mac". Not surprisingly, this large bronze statue has been removed from the heart of Johannesburg to a safer location at 156 Dorp Street, Stellenbosch. Although the reason for his removal remains uncertain, one can assume this was done in order not to tempt the Golden City's scrap metal entrepreneurs. (The images of Old Mac at his current location were taken from www.theheritageportal.co.za).
'Golden Age is the sequel to The Corner House, first published in 1965. It continues the story of two world-renowned companies, Rand Mines and The Central Mining & Investment Corporation, the first of which has been associated with the gold mines of South Africa for seventy-five years. These companies established a group of mines which, at their peak, produced more than half the total annual output of the Transvaal. The value of the gold produced by the mines they have administered, and still administer, is estimated to date at R6,000 million (£3,500 million), based on the present valuation of gold at R25 an ounce. It represents a considerable percentage of the world's existing gold reserve, and is still mounting.
The Corner House dealt with the period 1886 to 1910. This book takes the story on to the present day. It is far more than a mere history of mining finance companies. In part it is the history of Johannesburg and of South Africa itself. It describes the battles in the streets between the miners and soldiers in 1913, the first discovery of platinum in the Transvaal in 1925, the founding of the uranium industry and the renaissance of the gold mining industry that began in 1933 and marked the opening of a new era for South Africa - a golden age. In these pages you meet the successors to Sir Julius Wernher and Alfred Beit - such famous personalities of the gold mining industry as Sir Lionel Phillips, Sir Sothern Holland, Mr. John Martin, Lord Baillieu and Mr. Charles W. Engelhard. Sir Ernest Oppenheimer and Sir Abe Bailey are never far from the scene.
Rand Mines, founded in 1893, has played an important part in many of the major events in the period from 1910 to the present day which the book describes. Today, while it still has a large stake in gold mining, it has expanded its industrial interests on a wide front, notably in the manufacture of ferro-chrome alloys and stainless steel. Thus it is in the forefront of what has been described as 'South Africa's industrial revolution' which is building up one of the most prosperous economies in the Western world.
More than 100 illustrations help to make Golden Age a valuable contemporary history of gold mining and of Johannesburg, now the biggest mining city in any country.'
- Jacket Condition: Very Good
- Binding Condition: Near Fine
- Overall Condition: Very Good
- Sold By: Rare Paper
- Contact Person: Armandt Marais
- Country: South Africa
- Email: [email protected]
- Telephone: 0741235861
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