Pioneering Witwatersrand crushing mill still standing firm
The first mill on the Witwatersrand to crush gold-bearing rock, known as the Struben Stamp Mill, has been moved to the Kloofendal Nature Reserve, where it is a main attraction in mine history walks, hosted by historian Rodney Kruger.
The 127-year-old mill, which was bought by gold prospectors Harry Struben and Fred Struben, was shipped from England to the Wilgespruit farm, on the West Witwatersrand, in 1884. It was then set up in Constantia Kloof, west of Johannesburg, and used to mill ore for the Confidence Reef mine.
Kruger found a photo of the mill, taken before 1888, in an old photo album that belonged to the Struben family and says that no one in the fraternity of historians has seen it before.
“The photographer is unknown and it shows a completely different belt drive to what was conventional at that time,” he says.
“In 1884, the Struben brothers discovered the first payable gold on the Witwatersrand. The auriferous quartz vein was called the Confidence Reef. The discovery helped pave the way in finding the premier auriferous rock of the Witwatersrand, namely the conglomerates of the main reef,” Kruger notes.
He adds that the Confidence Reef mine was unprofitable; however, the mill continued to crush ore from the Langlaagte and Bantjies mines in Johannesburg until 1886.
“The only photo of the mill was taken by Swiss photographer HF Gros in 1885 when it was new,” says Kruger.
He explains that the mill was then moved to a south Roodepoort mine, where it was used and then probably displayed as a museum piece, adding that the mill was recovered by the curator of the Roodepoort museum and moved to Florida, Gauteng, where it was displayed for 40 years before the Friends of Kloofendal Nature Reserve moved it to the reserve in 2009.
Article Enquiry
Email Article
Save Article
Feedback
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
ISO-certified Condra manufactures overhead cranes, portal cranes, cantilever cranes and crane components: hoists, drives, end-carriages, brakes and...
VISIT SHOWROOM
For over 60 years, VEGA has provided industry-leading products for the measurement of level, density, weight and pressure. As the inventor of the...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
