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Publisher's orange cloth binding with illustration of mining head gear on front panel. Illustrated dust jacket.
143pp. followed by 16pp. of black & white photographs. Text in Afrikaans.
Contains a loosely inserted compliments slip from the Boshoff Group of Mines, as well as compliments slip from the publisher.
This copy has been signed on the front endpaper by:
W. B. "KOEKS" BOSHOFF (founder of the Boshoff Mining Group)
PIET MEIRING (the author).
JAN FRIEDRICH WILLEM HAAK (South African Minister of Mines and Mineral Resources 1964-67, and Minister of Economic Affairs 1967-70).
JAN DE KLERK (Minister of Home Affairs 1961-66 and acting State President of South Africa in 1975. He was the father of later State President F. W. de Klerk).
NIC DIEDERICHS (Minister of Economic Affairs from 1958 to 1967, Minister of Mines from 1961 to 1964, and Minister of Finance from 1967 to 1975. In the latter capacity he became known as "Mr Gold". He was the 3rd State President of South Africa 1975-78). Diederichs wrote the foreword to this book.
ISAK D. VAN NIEKERK (Prominent board member and executive of the Boshoff Group of Mines and Chief Engineer).
JAMES CHARLES NAPOLEON "JIMMY" HUMPHREYS (A prominent South African consulting mining engineer, corporate director, and an esteemed collector of Africana. Because of his dual life as a mining executive and a meticulous historical collector, Humphreys preserved an massive archive of South African mining history. Upon his death, his records became the J.C.N. Humphreys Collection housed at the Wits University Library. This collection contains 16 primary boxes of internal records for the Boshoff Group of Mines, including directors' reports, minutes, maps of underground workings, and share lists from 1926 to 1967)
The Boshoff family, led by pioneer Willem Boshoff, "recycled" depleted gold mines in South Africa by developing a highly thorough extraction system known as the "Boshoff method of reclamation". Beginning at the Primrose Gold Mine in 1934, this approach successfully extracted gold from previous mining left-overs and abandoned, worked-out mines that large corporations deemed economically unviable. Rather than standard large-scale mining, the Boshoff Group utilized specific reclamation techniques designed to eliminate waste and maximize efficiency:
Underground Waste Reduction: Workers thoroughly examined and assayed the worked-out areas. They put down winzes (minor shafts) and reopened old shafts and drives. Rocks were washed, broken, and trammed directly underground. By building panels and stone walls to store waste rock inside the subterranean cavities, very little waste rock was ever brought to the surface.
Repurposed Equipment: To drastically cut overhead costs, almost all the machinery and tools utilised by the workers were fashioned entirely out of discarded mining equipment left behind by previous operations.
Ultra-thorough Gold Recovery: Absolutely nothing was thrown away. To extract every microscopic bit of gold residue, the group went as far as treating the workers' old boots, water tins used underground, and old mine timber beams for any gold dust they might contain.
Through these hyper-efficient recycling and scavenging methods, the Boshoff Group of Mines reclaimed tens of millions of rands worth of fine gold out of forgotten "waste" land.
- Jacket Condition: Very Good
- Binding Condition: Very Good
- Name: Rare Paper
- Contact Person: Armandt Marais
- Country: South Africa
- Email: [email protected]
- Telephone: 0741235861
- Preferred Payment Methods: EFT, Bank Deposit. For International Customers: Paypal with 6% surcharge, International Transfer
- Trade Associations: A. A. Approved
