THE GOLDEN SEMICIRCLE
569
east
of the Welkom area a new grouping arose, north and south of the Sand
River, and based on the 'created' town of Virginia as its urban centre,
which itself lies south of the river. The four mines of the Virginia
area, Saaiplaas, Harmony, Virginia and Merriespruit, are administered
respectively by New Consolidated Gold Fields, by Central Mining-Rand
Mines and by the Anglo Transvaal Consolidated, though the Orange Free
State Investment Trust is interested in Harmony and Saaiplaas, as it
is also in Freddies Consolidated, Riebeeck and St. Helena.
♦ XXXI ♦
Before World War II, the cost of equipping a mine on the Wit-watersrand was in the neighbourhood of £3 milhon. In 1950 it was estimated that the cost of equipping a standard Orange Free State mine was between £7 and £8 million.86 (At present the cost would be anything between £15 and £20 million.87)
As already pointed out, costs were constantly rising in the 'formative'
period of the Orange Free State gold-field. Even with constant costs,
the problem of providing finance sufficient for the equipment of the
seven mines directly administered by the Anglo American Corporation
group—apart from the contribution made to the equipment of mines, the
administration of which was in the hands of other mining houses—would
have called for very considerable sums; rising costs obviously greatly
complicated the situation. Nevertheless, the problem was solved. From
the standpoint of the Anglo American Corporation group, however, the
Orange Free State developments were only part of a far wider programme
of expansion—Northern Rhodesia, the Far West Rand and a whole host of
other activities—including, so far as the Free State was concerned, the
provision of housing and social amenities on a very large scale.
m
1955, in reviewing the first ten years of development of the Orange
Free State gold-fields as a whole, and the diverse methods required to
bring in the necessary amounts involved, Ernest Oppen-heimcr stated
that 'by all these means some -£200,000,000 have been raised to enable
the development of the gold-field to proceed unchecked by any shortage
of finance, and perhaps the most remarkable aspect of
8S H. F. Oppcnheimer, op. tit., p. 150.
87
Apart from the influence exerted by the general level of prices, the
cost of equipping a mine is influenced by the depth of the reef. The
cost of shaft-sinking is slightly more than proportionate to depth. A
mid-figure of £17 million assumes a depth of some 5,000 to 6,000 feet.
