Boom to bust in South Africa

Boom to bust in South Africa.

With such a treasure chest of data and exploration history, why has exploration vanished?   

By Leon Louw founder of WhyAfrica and editor of the WhyAfrica magazine.

South Africa’s mining legacy is built on relentless mineral exploration. World class discoveries like the Witwatersrand goldfields and the Bushveld Complex laid the foundations for one of the worlds most powerful mining economies.

Yet, despite libraries full of data and a rich exploration history, the spirit of exploration has all but disappeared.

Regulatory uncertainty, declining investor confidence, and underinvestment have brought grassroots exploration to a standstill.

Most South African geologists and exploration guru’s I’ve spoken with and interviewed over the last 15 years are convinced South Africa still has a lot to offer, especially in the age of critical minerals.

A glance through history

Just a quick glance through historic geological records from several areas and paging through history books, makes one realise how exploration shaped the South Africa landscape and how much could still possibly be out there.

Because the first leg of the 2025 WhyAfrica Road Trip is focussed on South Africa, southern Namibia, Eswatini and Lesotho (we head north over the Limpopo during Leg 2 and 3) I’ve been brushing up on interesting exploration stories in South Africa.

I came across reference to uranium exploration in the Free State and Karoo in a fantastic book titled: Geological Journeys by Nick Norman and Gavin Whitfield.

I quote a few lines: “For about 4 years in the late 1970s, the whole area around Edenburg in the Free State Province, was the scene of intense exploration, with farms being optioned, drills operating around the clock.”

According to the authors the low hills in the area was “substantially enriched with uranium”.

In the end, the uranium price no longer supported the viability of mining operations and the quest was over.

In search of platinum

Even more interesting though is that some of the farms south of the Edenburg’s uranium field had seen drilling 30 years earlier, this time a platinum intrusion similar to Zimbabwe’s Great Dyke was the target.

The problem was that the anomaly was covered by more than 1100m of Karoo sediment. Eight holes were drilled though, revealing a layered intrusion of between 1800m and 3000m thick.

Very interestingly though is that in the process of drilling, numerous layers of titanium bearing magnetite were discovered that also contained significant amounts of vanadium.

History is amazing. Who knows what else is hidden in what is now called the “Trompsburg Complex”.

Follow WhyAfrica as we unearth more South African secrets during our fourth WhyAfrica Road Trip in September and October.

Image: Where have all the rigs gone? Image credit: Leon Louw for WhyAfrica

Boom to bust in South Africa.