The majority of the deposits of these minerals are found in an oval area known as the Bushveld Complex, in the old Transvaal (now Mpumalanga) and in the Witwatersrand basin extending from the southern Mpumalanga towards the Orange Free State. Movements and geological formations in this area go back to around 2800 million of years, say the experts. The best known product, of course, is gold, which however has been gradually loosing importance in the overall total of mineral exports. The mines are reaching their life end, after about 200 years of digging and some of them have reached 2 km deep. In this area it is still fine, although expensive, while in Kwa-Zulu-Natal, where the underground has got much more water, such deep levels would be virtually impossible. Gold then has been slowly loosing ground in the export market: in 1982 the gold industry produced 662636 Kg of gold representing almost 61% of the total minerals sold, which at that time totalled 14,4 thousand million rands. By 2005 the production was 294,8 tones.
This abundance of minerals in the underground, besides the social inequalities that it has promoted in the past - and the present -, has got also other consequences, that the local inhabitants have known and experienced forcenturies before the arrival of the “gold diggers”. In the area of Damesfontein, in south east Mpumalanga, for instance, it is known that the underground has got minerals. This is also a forest area and during the summer time, together with the rains, fierce thunderstorms will batter the countryside. Electrical discharges, in the form of thunderbolts, are extremely frequent. They can strike at random but especially near metal structures, like the poles of the electric grid, of the telephone or other towers. In 2006 in a bizarre incident, because there were very few clouds at that moment, a bolt struck during a football match in Johannesburg. Several players were hit and had to be hospitalised, although they all survived. In the open fields many times the cows of the farmers of the area are the victims of this lightning.
If there are no metallic poles in the vicinity, the bolt will make contact with anything high like the pine and eucalyptus trees of which there are many around. Just in the compound of the mission of Damesfontein, two eucalyptus and one pine tree were recently hit. The local inhabitants (Africans) from time immemorial felt this danger, and in fact, superstitious, as soon as they would hear the first thunder would run to light a candle and burn a type of incense to “chase away” the storm. Any trees struck by lightning would not be used for fire wood: it would not be good to mix up the fire “from heaven” with “our fire”.
To prevent this danger for themselves, their huts and other constructions they used to fit a long metallic pipe near the highest and tallest building in the kraal (traditional residential compound often with a fence around it) as a kind of lightning conductor.
But perhaps the most interesting and peculiar tradition is the fact that, if someone would be struck by a bolt of lightning and die, such person would not be buried in the usual cemetery, but had to be buried near a stream of water. The person had been “warmed/heated” too much by the thunder bolt, and so, thirsty, would need to rest forever near the running waters to quench his/her thirst and sip a bit now and then!
Interesting isn’t it?
