Financing an infant coal industry: The Case of the Natal collieries

Abstract

Abstract The existence of Natal's coal deposits, though not their full extent, was known at least as early as the late 1830s but large-scale commercial coal-mining did not gather momentum until the late 1880s, following the encouraging Report on the coal resources of Klip River Country submitted to the Natal Government in September 1881 by the British geologist Frederic W. North, and the advance of the railway from Durban through Glencoe to Newcastle in 1889. This obviously vital infrastructural development, as well as the improvement of harbour facilities at Durban, was not prompted by the presence of coal in northern Natal but by the discovery of the main Witwatersrand goldreef deeper in the interior. It marked the beginning of a mutually beneficial though not always harmonious relationship between the railway authorities and the local coal industry. However, the link which was established both with the Port and with the burgeoning inland market on the Witwatersrand encouraged the formation of several c...