498 SIR ERNEST OPPENHEIMER
on
the west: both were the result of the abandonment of the gold standard
by the Union of South Africa at the end of 1932. Essentially, between
1917 and 1931, the Anglo American Corporation group built up a compact
group of four mining properties, Brakpan, Daggafontein, Springs and
West Springs:11 the area under control being increased
partly by inter-group sales (such as the sale of the Schapenrust claims
to the Brakpan Mines); partly by the acquisition or leasing of
adjoining land (such as the leasing from Government of an additional
area of ground adjacent to Springs Mines), and partly by the
acquisition by one mine of the whole of the claim area of another; thus
in 1931 Brakpan Mines entered into an agreement to acquire the assets
of the Witpoort Gold Areas, comprising 3,009 claims. It was possible to
achieve economy of working in some cases by a common use of shafts, as
in the case of Springs and West Springs Mines, or by the grant of other
facihties.
Half-way
through the twenties, the position of the gold-mining industry was
greatly affected by the return of the gold standard at the old parity,
the effect of wliich step was, of course, the disappearance of the
'premium'. If mining was to be profitable—and this was the fundamental
condition of further progress—costs would have to be adjusted: by wage
reductions, or by the fuller utilization of working hours, by a larger
supply of workers, by economies of operation, such as the joint use of
shafts, by improvements in mining and metallurgical techniques, and by
a reduction or, at any rate, stabilization of the fiscal and social
burdens resting on the industry. In fact, working profit per ton, which
had been 10s. 4d. in 1924 (having risen from 19s. 11d. in 1922),
fell in the next year to 8s. 10d. and for the remainder of the period
before the abandonment of gold fluctuated between that figure and a
minimum of 8s. 4d.. in 1929. Working costs per ton between 1925 and 1932 fluctuated between a maximum of 195. 11 d. in 1928 and a minimum of 19s. 1d. in
1926. Nevertheless, both tonnage milled and fine ounces recovered both
expanded: tons milled rose from 29,352,000 short tons in 1925 to
35,725,000 in 1932, while during the same period gold output rose from
9,598,000 ounces to 11,558,000, the realized value expanded (though the
price of gold remained unchanged) from £44,739,000 to £49,773,000.
These results were due partly to the increasing importance of the Far East Rand with its higher yield per ton milled,12 partly to an
11 These two mining companies were subsequently amalgamated, as from July 1948.
12 Footnote 12 on opposite page.
Flickr
Stumbleupon
Scribd
