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The mines for the most part are worked from adits into the hills. With the extension of the mines underground vertical shafts were sunk, the deepest being No. 2 Shaft at Vaalhoek mine, which is 547 feet in depth. A number of mines have worked off inclined shafts. Among the many difficulties that have been
encountered by the mines in the district may be mentioned the patchy nature of the ore occurrences, refractory ore, broken and waterlogged ground and lack of sufficient ore reserves to make long-term planning always possible. The mines have had the advantage of being controlled by a large mining house, thus making capital, technical knowledge and experience available for the development of the district. Without this, it can safely be said that mining would not have been developed to the extent that it is today.
Much use has been made of the water in the Blyde and Sabie rivers for the generation of power. A cheap central power supply would still be of great benefit for the further development of mines in the district.
The large quantities of water in the dolomites have hampered and added considerably to the cost of development of the mines. An example of this is the Glynn's Lydenburg mine where at one time 60 tons of water were pumped for every ton of ore milled. Drainage drivers have been used for tapping water at a number of mines. The largest drainage drive in the district is at the Glynn's Lydenburg mine. This tunnel was completed in 1940 and is 16,526 feet long. At one time 12,000,000 gallons of water flowed daily from the tunnel into the Sabie River.
Abnormally large quantities of timber are required by the mines due to the broken and disturbed nature of the rock formations. In the early days mining timber was cut in the indigenous forests along the escarpment. Supplies from this source were limited and much of the timber was inaccessible. The increasing demand for mining poles due to the expansion of the local mines and mines elsewhere in the Transvaal led to the start of
faforestation schemes in the district. As early as 1904 the the Transvaal Gold Mining Estates planted trees on the farm Driekop near Graskop. Afforestation has developed considerably since those days and when the mines have finally closed the "green gold" of the timber plantations will maintain the economy of the district.
The early development of the goldfields was much impeded by transport difficulties. Stores and equipment had to be brought long distances from Lourenco Marques, Durban, the Witwatersrand and elsewhere by ox wagon and the cost was high. Due to increasing requirements of the mines and pressure from the mining companies the railway line from Nelspruit to Graskop was finally completed in 1913.
The total gold production from the three mines of the Pilgrim's Rest district in 1953 was 68,741 ounces valued at f853,227. There total average employment in 1953 was 250 whites
and 3611 blacks. The main producing mines are those operated by the Transvaal Mining Estates, Ltd., which took over the plant and property of Glynn's Lydenburg, Ltd., in 1950, when the latter went into liquidation. These two companies have together, since their formation in 1895, produced 4,745,000 ounces of gold from a total of 14,789,000 tons treated. The total amount of money expended on working costs is f21,547,000 for a declared profit of f6,016,000.
Other producing mines are the Nestor (gold), Arcadia (asbestos), Bultfontein (kaolin), and Briel and Botha (corundum) but their production is small.
There are a large number of dormant mines in the area. All the dormant mines with the exception of Sacramento Creek have been worked for gold. The mines closed for various reasons. A number of mines are known to contain appreciable tonnages of oxidized and pyritic ores and, under more favourable conditions that exist at present time, will be brought back into production. In some instances the sulphide ores are known to be refractory and specialist treatment is required. A central custom roasting plant for the treatment of concentrates from mines of this type might be of assistance in reaching a decision to re-open the mines.
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