‘Black Gold’ and Verticality: Geology, Labour and Mining Operations in the Territorial Construction of the Witbank Labour District

Scholars acknowledge the importance of geological knowledge in the growth of South Africa’s mining industry. While this acknowledgement extends to the analysis of the rise of eMalahleni (formerly known as Witbank) to the status of ‘premier coal supplier’ of the Union of South Africa, there is currently no specific historical analysis of the role of geological knowledge in the growth and development of the district’s mining industry. This article is a response to Kate (formerly Peter) Alexander’s call to study the history of mining with reference to the contribution of geological knowledge, and provides a detailed historical account of such a contribution to the development of the political economy of the mining industry of eMalahleni.1 Using a wide range of archival sources, the article draws from literature on the production of vertical territory and takes as its starting point the role of scientific societies such as the Geological Society of South Africa and the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy in the creation of geological knowledge about the coal deposits of the former Transvaal. It then examines the roles of the Transvaal Geological Survey and the Geological Survey of the Union of South Africa, as well as geological maps produced by Alexander Graham in the creation of the Witbank Coalfield, to demonstrate how the development of geological knowledge and mining operations became processes that defined the constitution of the Witbank Labour District. The paper argues that the making of the Witbank Labour District as a coal-mining district was tied to the making of the Witbank Coalfield and that the making of the coalfield from which the district’s mining industry developed was a process in which the availability of labour was as crucial a factor in the expansion of its mining operations as scientific societies, shafts, drilling operations and expert geological knowledge.