The history of the Waterberg deposit: why South Africa's first platinum mine failed

Abstract

The beginning of the South African platinum industry can be traced to the discovery of the Waterberg deposit in mid-1923 by the prospector Adolph Erasmus. The company that was floated to exploit the deposit, Transvaal Platinum Limited, built South Africa's first platinum mine but the mine closed after producing platinum for only a few months in 1926. The Waterberg deposit and its mining history have been largely forgotten as more successful mines were developed. This paper documents the history of Transvaal Platinum Limited and the manner in which it developed and mined the Waterberg deposit in order to explore the factors ultimately involved in the failure of the mine. The dramatic collapse of South Africa's first platinum venture was caused by a combination of the following: (i) poor grade control and gross overestimation of the real ore grade; (ii) failure to test adequately both the grade and metallurgical behaviour of the platinum before commissioning an expensive treatment plant; and (iii) the waste of time and resources incurred in developing an area of the mine whose ore could not be treated using the available plant.