Thirdly,
at the ordinary general meeting of African and European Investment
Company, a land- and coal-owning company in the Lewis and Marks group,
the chairman informed the shareholders that
owing
to the successful boring operations of Western Reefs Exploration and
Development Company Limited, in the area to the south-west of
Klerks-dorp, this district has become important in the last few years,
and large areas have been taken up by various groups in the
south-western Transvaal and north-western Free State. In order to have
an interest in this area, should any further discoveries of major
importance be made, your company has acquired options in various parts
of these districts which are so placed that there will be a reasonable
chance of one at least of them proving valuable should a major
discovery be made. We hold under option an area of 86,750 acres in the
Bothaville, Odendaalsrust and Hoopstad districts of the Free State, and
15,870 acres in the Wolmaransstad district of the Transvaal. A certain
amount of geophysical and geological work is projected on these areas,
but it is not proposed to carry out a major boring programme until the
geological conditions are more clearly defined.
Next year, the shareholders were informed at the 33rd ordinary general meeting of African and European that
in
the Orange Free State we continue to hold mineral options over 30,848
morgen of ground, equivalent to 65,289 acres, of which 56,010 acres are
in the Odendaalsrust area. This latter block abuts the farm St. Helena
on its eastern boundary and is, therefore, very favourably situated in
regard to the recent important discoveries which have been made by
Western Holdings Limited on the farm mentioned. Besides controlling
this large and favourably placed area, our company has acquired a
considerable holding in Western Holdings and is represented on the
board of that company. As you arc aware, mining developments in the
Odendaalsrust area have been attracting considerable attention, and
from the prospecting and boring results so far obtained, there seems to
be a probability that the gold-bearing reefs which have been discovered
may belong to the Witwatersrand System. It is, of course, too early at
this stage to make any definite pronouncement in regard to the new
discovery; I may, however, refer to the statement from the chair, made
at the recent meeting of Western Holdings Limited, to the effect that
'not only does all available data indicate that the area is underlain
by the Witwatersrand System, but it is also evident that it is gold
bearing'. You may rest assured that our company fully recognizes the
potentialities of this area and is taking all necessary steps to
develop its interests there.
which
may be formed on the area held by Western Holdings to the north of the
Sand River, which ground includes farms St. Helena and Kaaplan, on
which the recent reef intersections were made.'
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