Dlamini BlessingJohannesburg, the “City of Gold,” was built on and defined by its mining industry. While the era of deep-level gold mining within the city’s immediate boundaries has largely passed, its legacy and ongoing operations in the surrounding Witwatersrand Basin remain fundamental to the region’s economy and history.
For this year, the most significant mining operations associated with Johannesburg are a mix of active surface operations, historic but economically vital re-processing projects, and massive mine dumps that are themselves being re-mined. This guide highlights ten of the most prominent and impactful mining operations in and around Johannesburg, detailing their current status, product focus, and their role in the city’s ongoing narrative.
Top 10 Mines in Johannesburg: A Guide for This Year
1. Savuka Gold Mine (AngloGold Ashanti)
Located in the West Rand, Savuka is one of the deepest mines in the world and remains a symbol of the region’s deep-level mining engineering.
* Location & Status: Near Carletonville, approximately 70km west of Johannesburg CBD. While its neighbour, Mponeng, is the primary focus, Savuka’s infrastructure and remaining resources are integral to the complex. Operations are complex due to depth and seismic activity.
* Current Focus: Part of AngloGold Ashanti’s Vaal River operations. Its primary focus is on accessing remaining high-grade ore bodies at extreme depths (nearing 4km). The mine is in a care and maintenance or limited production phase, with its future tied to the economic viability of ultra-deep mining.
* Significance: Represents the technological frontier and immense challenges of South Africa’s deep-level gold mining. Its operational decisions are bellwethers for the future of the industry in the region.
2. Mponeng Gold Mine (AngloGold Ashanti)
The world’s deepest mine, pushing the limits of human engineering and mining technology.
* Location & Status: Also near Carletonville. It is the last standing deep-level gold mine in the AngloGold Ashanti portfolio in South Africa and is actively pursuing extensions to its life of mine.
* Current Focus: Mining a narrow but incredibly high-grade ore body at depths exceeding 4km. The mine is a hub of innovation in cooling (to combat rock temperatures of 66°C), vertical shaft systems, and seismic management. Its ongoing operation is critical for the local economy and the global gold supply.
* Significance: An active, world-class engineering marvel. Its continued operation is a testament to the enduring value of the Witwatersrand Basin and represents thousands of direct and indirect jobs.
3. Durban Roodepoort Deep (DRDGold) – Surface Operations
A prime example of the shift from underground to surface mining, focusing on the re-treatment of historic mine waste.
* Location & Status: Based in Roodepoort, west of Johannesburg. The underground mine closed, but its surface operations are highly active.
* Current Focus: DRDGold, through its subsidiary **Ergo Mining**, operates one of the largest surface gold retreatment businesses in the world. It processes old slimes dams and sand dumps from the Central Rand using advanced technologies to extract residual gold.
* Significance: Key player in the environmental rehabilitation of Johannesburg’s mining landscape. It turns historical liability (acid mine drainage risk from dumps) into an economic asset, providing a cleaner, lower-risk form of gold extraction and creating sustainable jobs.
4. The Tailings Reprocessing Projects (Various Operators)
A collective term for numerous operations focused on extracting gold and other minerals from Johannesburg’s iconic mine dumps.
* Key Operators: DRDGold (Ergo), Gold Reef City’s Mintails project, and other smaller operators.
* Current Focus: Using hydraulic mining, high-pressure water cannons, and carbon-in-leach (CIL) plants to recover gold from vast tailings deposits across the East, Central, and West Rand. These projects are extensive, reshaping the city’s skyline by flattening the famous yellow dunes.
* Significance: This is the most visible form of mining in Johannesburg today. It addresses environmental legacies, recovers billions of Rands worth of overlooked minerals, and is a major urban regeneration driver.
5. Sibanye-Stillwater’s Gold Operations (Kloof, Driefontein)
While headquartered in the West Rand, Sibanye-Stillwater’s integrated gold operations are pillars of the regional economy.
* Location & Status: Kloof and Driefontein complexes near Westonaria. These are large-scale, mature underground operations.
* Current Focus: As part of Sibanye-Stillwater’s diverse portfolio (which includes platinum and battery metals), these mines focus on maximizing extraction from existing reserves, improving operational efficiency, and ensuring safety. They are critical for sustaining the company’s gold production profile.
* Significance: Represents the consolidation and modernization of the traditional gold mining sector. These operations are major employers and are central to the social and economic fabric of the West Rand.
6. The Diamond & Mineral Recovery Plants (e.g., De Beers’ Diamond Recovery)
Specialised plants that recover diamonds and other heavy minerals from old kimberlite processing tailings.
* Location & Status: Historically linked to the Premier Mine (now Cullinan) east of Pretoria, but recovery operations and related industries have a presence in the broader Gauteng industrial landscape.
* Current Focus: Re-processing historic tailings from diamond mines to recover stones missed by older technology. This is a niche but high-value segment of the retreatment industry.
* Significance: Highlights the secondary resource potential locked in mining waste and the advanced technology now used in mineral recovery.
7. Aggregate & Sand Mining Quarries
Essential for Johannesburg’s construction and infrastructure development, these are the active “mines” within the urban fabric.
* Key Locations: Quarries in areas like Lime Acres (south of the city), Kyalami, and surrounding the Magaliesberg.
* Current Focus: Open-pit mining of dolomite, sand, and aggregate for concrete, road building, and construction. These operations are directly tied to the city’s growth and urban development cycles.
* Significance: The unsung backbone of the built environment. They represent the most common and immediate form of “mining” that citizens interact with, supplying materials for homes, roads, and offices.
8. Historic & Heritage Sites: The Crown Mines Complex
Once the world’s largest gold mining complex, now a largely dormant historic site with some residual activity.
* Location & Status: South of Johannesburg CBD, bordering Soweto. Most operations ceased decades ago.
* Current Focus: The area is a mix of abandoned infrastructure, small-scale reclamation projects, and urban encroachment. It serves as a powerful physical archive of the city’s mining origins.
* Significance: A crucial heritage landscape. It is a reminder of the industry’s scale and social impact. Discussions about its future involve heritage preservation, environmental remediation, and potential redevelopment.
9. Uranium Extraction as a By-Product
An increasingly important aspect of gold tailings retreatment, given rising uranium prices.
* Operators: DRDGold and other retreatment companies have uranium extraction circuits within their gold plants.
* Current Focus: Recovering uranium oxide (yellowcake) as a co-product from the same tailings being processed for gold. This adds a significant revenue stream and makes retreatment projects more economically robust.
* Significance: Positions Johannesburg’s mine waste as a strategic resource for nuclear energy fuel, adding a new dimension to the circular economy of mining.
10. The “Mine of the Future”: Exploration & Technology Hubs
Not a single mine, but a category representing the future—companies using AI, seismology, and new extraction methods to find and mine differently.
* Entities: Includes research at institutions like the **Wits Mining Institute**, and ventures by companies exploring in-situ leaching or ultra-deep exploration using new geophysical models.
* Current Focus: Developing technology to economically access ultra-deep resources (beyond 5km) or to extract minerals without traditional digging (in-situ recovery). Also includes the digital mapping of old workings to identify overlooked pay-shoots.
* Significance: This is where the next chapter of Johannesburg’s mining story will be written. It focuses on sustainability, safety, and using technology to unlock the basin’s remaining wealth in ways previously unimaginable.
The Evolving Narrative of Mining in Johannesburg
The top mines today tell a story of **transition**:
* From Underground to Surface: The most visible activity is no longer deep underground but on the surface, reprocessing the past.
* From Pure Extraction to Rehabilitation: Mining is now integrally linked with environmental management and urban regeneration.
* From Single Commodity to Multi-Commodity: Gold remains king, but uranium, sulphur, and aggregate are key parts of the value chain.
* From Labour-Intensive to Technology-Intensive: Even underground giants like Mponeng rely on cutting-edge tech, while retreatment is a highly automated process.
In summary, Johannesburg’s top mines for this year are not just holes in the ground. They are large-scale retreatment plants (like DRDGold’s Ergo), engineering marvels (like Mponeng), and essential aggregate quarries. The industry’s centre of gravity has shifted from digging new ore to sustainably reclaiming value from its monumental legacy, while a few deep-level operations continue to push engineering boundaries. Understanding these sites provides a clear view of an industry in a mature yet innovative phase, still fundamentally shaping the economy and landscape of South Africa’s economic heartland.