How Depressing

This morning i had to take a drive out to the West Rand to a place called Randfontein which when translated means Rand Fountain. There was no fountain to view, but what was obvious was that this area is a gold mining area. Johannesburg is known for it's gold mines and what drew the people here in the first place. There are a few main gold reefs that the mines have tapped into and this is the result a gold mine waste dump which is seriously big. Impressive to think this was once underground and now is a warren of tunnels.

The downside of all the mine dumps is the land never seems to be reclaimed and Johannesburg is littered with these dumps. The older ones were sold off years ago for R1 each and from the little knowledge I know once removed the land takes 20 years of treatment due to the high level of chemicals used in the mining process. This is a big health problem on windy days as the mine dust from the dumps blows everywhere and is not great for sinuses. We are not close by, but the fine toxic dust travels hundreds of kilometers.

This dump must be still active looking at the top deposits with a lighter color of soil. The trees are mature so this dump has to be a good 30 -40 years old.

The big problem is developers do not wait the 20 years and build as quickly as possible with some drastic results. One of the big 3 phone companies built a head office and had to abandon the building after a few years as everything was rusting from a chemical reactions due to a highly toxic soil base. Computers had a high level of corrosion on the inside and even stupid things like paper clips were showing signs so one can imagine what this did for the staff who were working there.

This area is about a 1 hour drive from where I live and the irony is the area looks so poor and run down yet the ground beneath has generated an absolute fortune. You try not to think what is beneath your feet and how many shafts you have driven over and what type of depth they are.

The infrastructure in the area is questionable at best and has just been left abandoned like this bridge that has seen better days. You ae left wondering when is this structure called dangerous enough to pull down.

The many suburbs in the area we drove through were very poor and these villages must have been built by the mines to accommodate their staff. The area is still very active and you come away with the feeling this place has had no love and has been neglected.

The morning drive to the textile mill took nearly 2 hours due to the missing traffic lights which have been long stolen for scrap metal. The return route using a different app was about half the time and need to avoid the first route. The textile mill itself is the last privately owned mill in the country as all their competitors have shut down and been replaced by Chinese imports. This mill has been around since 1953 and is still doing very well which is great to see a family run business beating the odds.

The good news is I do not need to revisit this customer for a while and expect an order to be placed this week as they have been waiting to run the samples which will now happen on Monday. The textile mill is seasonal with the demand for blankets happening during the winter months so their orders will increase over these months. Maybe the trip will be less depressing knowing they are spending money with you justifying the time spent is worthwhile.