This surface tour is designed to introduce delegates to some of the important geological features of the unique Witwatersrand plateau of the Johannesburg area on which the world’s greatest goldfield and city of Johannesburg was established. The tour includes an introduction to the early gold mining history of the gold reefs and incorporates aspects of the history of early Johannesburg and the Randlords who developed the huge gold mining industry of South Africa. The banded, magnetic iron formation of the lower Witwatersrand strata known as the Contorted Bed, used to trace the Witwatersrand sediments including gold reefs below younger cover, will be examined followed by a stop at the outcrop of the iconic auriferous conglomerate reef horizons of the Main Reef and Main Reef Leader conglomerates at the Langlaagte discovery site SW of Johannesburg. The historic Ferreira stope museum on the Main Reef Leader, site of the first gold mining camp-(Ferreiras camp) will also be visited. The uppermost (Elsburg) conglomerates and quartzites forming the southern edge of the Witwatersrand Plateau will then be examined, followed by a visit to the Ventersdorp lava which overlies the Witwatersrand sediments and which builds the Klipriversberg range south of Johannesburg.

Re-processing of the tailings dams will be viewed at the historic Robinson Deep mine and the origins and consequences of environmental impacts after 130 years of mining on the Witwatersrand will be examined. The effects of dust and water pollution will be discussed as well as research and remedial actions which have been taken.

Geological Map of the Central Witwatersrand

Field Trip Leader: Morris Viljoen                                     
Start/End: Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg
Departs: 09:00AM
Date: 1 day, Saturday 27th August 2016                        
Price: R 1 300 per person

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