Amazon Reef Settlement
From the 1850s, the Transvaal was abuzz with stories of gold. When alluvial gold was found in the Jukskei River, the Eersteling mine was established at Pietersburg, and there was a gold rush to Pilgrim’s Rest and then to Barberton.
In 1886, the Witwatersrand gold fields burst onto the scene. The whole country had a bad case of gold fever. It is therefore unsurprising that some eagle-eyed prospector identified some outcrops of gold-bearing conglomerate rock on the western end of the Vredefort Dome in 1887.
The farms Rooderand, Nooitgedacht and Buffelskloof were subsequently registered as goldfields and the ‘Vaal River Diggings’ began to attract attention.
To service this burgeoning industry, a town was established on the farm Rooderand in 1887. It was named Venterskroon (Venter’s Crown or Crest) after the local farmer who owned the land.
It was never a very prosperous place, as the local gold reef (known as the Amazon Reef, part of the Kimberley Reef) was not part of the Main Reef and did not yield impressive amounts of gold. But the town did get a magistrate, post office, hotel, school, jail and the other accoutrements of a mining town.
Venterskroon Mining Legacy
Mining operations in the Vredefort Dome had pretty much shut down by 1911. Then, in the 1930s, the Great Western Mining Company decided to give it another go. This venture was also a bust and the mine closed down in 1937. The total amount of gold extracted from the Vredefort area totalled a meagre 130kg.
The final chapter in the mining legacy of the Dome took place in the late 1990s, when the Randfontein Estates Gold Mining Corporation began exploring the Kimberley Reef in the western part of the Dome.
However, the prospect of ugly, dirty mines springing up in this lovely part of the country outraged the local landowners, and a local conservancy was formed to counter the threat. Seeking further protection, several stakeholders decided to take matters further and, in time, this would lead to the nomination of the Vredefort Dome as a World Heritage Site.
Today, there are still a few old buildings left in Venterskroon and the town is an attractive place. Guests can visit some of the old mine tunnels that snake their way through the mountains of the Vredefort Dome, but do venture there without a guide. The network of tunnels is treacherous, dark and eerie, so secure the services of a tour operator who knows their way around.