Jagersfontein
Jagersfontein | |
|---|---|
| Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 411: Malformed coordinates value. | |
| Coordinates: Lua error in Module:Coordinates at line 489: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). | |
| Country | South Africa |
| Province | Free State |
| District | Xhariep |
| Municipality | Kopanong |
| Established | 1852[1] |
| Government | |
| • Type | Municipality |
| • Mayor | xolani stalin-tseletsele[2] (ANC) |
| Area | |
• Total | 45.5 km2 (17.6 sq mi) |
| Population (2011)[3] | |
• Total | 5,729 |
| • Density | 126/km2 (326/sq mi) |
| Racial makeup (2011) | |
| • Black African | 80.9% |
| • Coloured | 12.5% |
| • Indian/Asian | 0.5% |
| • White | 5.6% |
| • Other | 0.5% |
| First languages (2011) | |
| • Sotho | 51.8% |
| • Afrikaans | 25.3% |
| • Xhosa | 11.2% |
| • Tswana | 6.5% |
| • Other | 5.2% |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (SAST) |
| Postal code (street) | 9974 |
| PO box | 9974 |
| Area code | 051 |
Jagersfontein is a small town in the Free State province of South Africa.
Origin
[edit | edit source]The original farm on which the town stands was once the property of a Griqua Jacobus Jagers, hence the name Jagersfontein. He sold the farm to C.F. Visser in 1854.
Mining
[edit | edit source]Diamond rush
[edit | edit source]A diamond rush started in 1870 after farmer J.J. de Klerk found a 50 carat (10 g) diamond. This was about three years before diamonds were discovered 130 km away at Kimberley.
Jagersfontein is known for many great finds, such as:
- the 972 carat (194.4 g) Excelsior Diamond of 1893 and
- the 637 carat (127.4 g) Reitz Diamond of 1895.
Jagersfontein Mine
[edit | edit source]Jagersfontein Mine together with the Koffiefontein mine produced some of the clearest diamonds of all mines in the early 1900s, despite being overshadowed by the mines at Kimberley. Streeter called Jagersfontein's diamonds of the "first water".[4]
The Reitz diamond was first named after Francis William Reitz, then state president of the Orange Free State in which Jagersfontein is located. The following year marked the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria (the 60th anniversary of her coronation) so the gem was renamed the Jubilee Diamond to commemorate the occasion.[5]
Main Pit Operations
[edit | edit source]The Jagersfontein Mine is currently the deepest hand-excavated hole in the world.
For the duration of the mine's operational history, it was run by De Beers up to 1972, when it was deproclaimed. De Beers did however retain prospecting rights on the property until 2002.
Stockpile Dumps Reprocessing
[edit | edit source]A court case, De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd v Ataqua Mining (Pty) Ltd, in December 2007,related to historic stockpile dumps were found not subject to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act. All standard National Environmental Management Act processes however still applied.[6][7][8][9][10]
Limited Reprocessing operations at the mine was eventually started in September 2010 by a company named Son Op before it changed its name to Jagersfontein Development. Reinet Investments of Luxembourg became involved around 2011, but eventually sold out to Stargems Group around early 2022.[11]
Tailings dam collapse
[edit | edit source]At around 6am on Sunday 11 September 2022, parts of a tailings dam collapsed on the outskirts of Jagersfontein.[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]
Urban electrification
[edit | edit source]Jagersfontein was the second town in South Africa and the first town in the Orange Free State to have electricity and piped water.[21]
In the early years, water used to be supplied with a unique system of coin-operated water pumps, using so-called Water Pennies,[22] situated on street corners.
See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Free State Tourism.org Archived 2014-01-06 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d Sum of the Main Places Jagersfontein and Itumeleng from Census 2011.
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ The Jubilee Diamond
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ IOL: Free State town forgotten in history
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ OpenAfrica.com [permanent dead link]
- ^ Some rare South African tokens from the Nomansland region
Municipalities and communities of Xhariep District Municipality, Free State | ||
|---|---|---|
District seat: Trompsburg | ||
| Kopanong | .svg) | |
| Letsemeng | ||
| Mohokare | ||
Lua error in Module:Authority_control at line 153: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).