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Mining in South Africa was once the main driving force behind the history and development of Africa's most advanced and richest economy. Large-scale and profitable mining started with the discovery of a diamond on the banks of the Orange River in 1867 by Erasmus Jacobs and the subsequent discovery and exploitation of the Kimberley pipes a few years later. Gold rushes to Pilgrim's Rest and Barberton were precursors to the biggest discovery of all, the Main Reef/Main Reef Leader on Gerhardus Oosthuizen's farm Langlaagte, Portion C, in 1886, the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the subsequent rapid development of the gold field there, the biggest of them all.

Diamond and gold production are now well down from their peaks, though South Africa is still number 5 in gold but remains a cornucopia of mineral riches. It is the world's largest producer of chrome, manganese, platinum, vanadium and vermiculite. It is the second largest producer of ilmenite, palladium, rutile and zirconium. It is also the world's third largest coal exporter. South Africa is also a huge producer of iron ore; in 2012, it overtook India to become the world's third-biggest iron ore supplier to China, the world's largest consumers of iron ore.

History

Diamond and gold discoveries played an important part in the growth of the early South African economy. A site northeast of Cape Town was discovered to have rich deposits of diamonds, and thousands rushed to the area of Kimberley in an attempt to profit from the discovery. The British later annexed the region of Griqualand West, an area which included the diamond fields. In 1868, the republic attempted to annex areas near newly discovered diamond fields, drawing protests from the nearby British colonial government. These annexations later led to the First Boer War of 1880-1881.

Qızıl aşkar edilib kimi tanınan ərazidə Витватерсранда, səbəb nə olacaq Витватерсранда Gold rush 1886-cı il. Almaz kimi kəşflər, əvvəl qızıl atəş minlərlə səbəb xaricilərin axın regiondur. Bu gücləndirilməsi, siyasi gərginliyin regionda, nəticədə, şərait, İkinci ingilis-бурской müharibə 1899.^{[mənbə göstərin]} Mülkiyyət, almaz və qızıl mədənləri oldu сконцентрированными əlində bir neçə iş adamlarının, əsasən, avropa mənşəli kimi tanınan Randlords. Cənubi Afrika və dünyanın ən böyük алмазодобывающей şirkətinin "debeers" idi maliyyə dəstəyi baron Nathaniel Mayer Rotşild 1887-ci ildə və Сесил Rods oldu banisi və direktorlar şurasının sədri 1888-ci ildə. Сесил Rods yer götürülmüşdür sir ernst olurdu Оппенгеймера, co-founder ingilis-amerikan korporasiyasının və J. P. Morgan.