THE GOLDEN SEMICIRCLE
585
It
follows from this policy that the importance of Anglo American
Corporation activities in these areas cannot be judged, either from the
historical or from the financial standpoint, solely from the number of
mining companies directly under its administration in relation to the
total number of mines operating or in course of development.
♦ XXXV ♦
A
new epoch in the history of the South African gold-mining industry
began on 3 October 1952, when the Prime Minister of the Union of South
Africa formally opened the first uranium plant to reach completion,
situated on the property of the West Rand Consolidated Mines Limited.
The effects, direct and indirect, have been very far-reaching; and a
fascinating history of co-operation between the scientific authorities
of several countries (including the Union) and the mining industry of
South Africa lies behind the results finally obtained,106 which were not achieved without great effort and trouble.107
Before
the war the demand for uranium was small, and arose from the
requirements of the glass, pigment and ceramic industries;
requirements which were easily satisfied from the known sources of
supply
areas
. . . [and] we have also continued to follow actively the developments
in these fields and have played a major part in financing the new mines
which are being opened up by Buffelsfontein Gold Mining Company
Limited, and Hartebeestfontein Gold Mining Company Limited, in the area
known as the Lucas Block south of the Stilfontein Mine. We have
invested in Ellaton Gold Mining Company Limited, and have also provided
a large proportion of the loan capital required by that company, which
is establishing a mine north of the Western Reefs Exploration and
Development Company Limited property. I am confident that these mines
will become large profitable gold producers and that we shall benefit
considerably from our investments.'
106 The
classical description of the historical development is the paper 'An
historical review of the events and developments culminating in the
construction of plants for the recovery of uranium from gold ore
residues', contributed to the symposium on uranium conducted by the
South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and other scientific
societies in South Africa, and written by Prof. L. Taverner, director
of the Government Metallurgical Laboratory. Originally published in 57 Journal of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (pp. 125-43) and republished in Uranium in South Africa, 1946-56 (2 vols., 1957).
107
'The work was undertaken jointly and with complete co-operation by the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Laboratory in the United States
of America, the Chemical Research Laboratory, Great Britain, the
Bureau of Mines Laboratory, Ottawa, and the Government Metallurgical
Laboratory in the Union. In addition, the Union Geological Survey,
with the active co-operation of the gold-mining industry, was
responsible for the physical determination of the uranium content of
some 400,000 underground samples of ore collected from various reefs on
selected mines and in addition the similar examination of a very large
number of dump residue samples' (Taverner, op. cit., p. 125). During 1945-52 the laboratories more directly concerned issued 528 reports dealing with various aspects of the problem.
