What is it about South Africas geological history that makes so rich in valuable minerals?
The main source of mineral wealth within South Africa is from the Witwatersrand basin where MORE GOLD has been produced from the rest of the world over the history of the world combined. This is a question that I thought about many years ago, also South Africa lies at the foot of the African plate which itself is made up of a series of ancient cratons. Africa, as a whole, is very well endowed with both gold and diamond deposits. It is considered that the Bushveld craton, in combining with the Zimbabwe craton, resulted in the formation of the Witwatersrand basin. This basin was filled with thick sequences of sandstones and conglomerates; many of the conglomerate layers being formed from rocks of very local provinance in which pyrite, gold and uraninite were also significantly present. It is thought that hot springs around the periphery of the Witwatersrand basin were the source of these minerals. North of the Witwatersrand basin, lies the Bushveld complex – a major source of the world’s
