Carletonville is a town in

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

and the seat of the Merafong City Local Municipality in the West Rand District Municipality in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

, just north of the richest gold-mining area in the world. At 3,749 m, Western Deep Levels holds the record for the world's deepest gold mine.

History

Developed by various mining companies from 1937 onwards, Carletonville was named after the long-serving mining director of

Consolidated Gold Fields Consolidated Gold Fields was a British gold-mining company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it was acquired by Hanson in 1988. History Consolidated Gold Fields of South Africa was fou ...

, Guy Carleton Jones, but was not officially incorporated until 1959. Upon reaching a population of 2000 1967, (mostly white inhabitants of the apartheid era) it became officially recognised and celebrated as a provincial town. There are several privately owned gold-mining township villages and contractor labour quarters established on mining ground owned by the various mining houses which operate in the area. The villages are located to the South of the R501 provincial road which forms the southern boundary of Carletonville. While the mining companies themselves have changed hands, or amalgamated and changed names, the mine villages situated to south are known as

Blyvooruitzicht Blyvooruitzicht () is a gold mine and gold-mining village in Gauteng, South Africa. It is situated about 5 km south of the centre of Carletonville and 80 km westwards from Johannesburg. History of the village The name of the village i ...

, (the oldest) Western Deep and Elandsrand. To the west and south-west is Doornfontein and Deelkraal and to the east is East Village at East Driefontein. The Town of Carletonville serves as the major shopping centre for the mine village townships. Mines are only permitted tuck shops for basic necessities, which are usually located at mine recreation centres, or on privately owned farm boundaries close to contractor labour quarters. The site of a 3 October 2007 collapse at

Elandsrand mine Kusasalethu (formerly Elandskraal, an amalgamation of Elandsrand and Deelkraal mines) is a gold mine on the West Wits Line near Carletonville Carletonville is a town in Gauteng and the seat of the Merafong City Local Municipality in the West R ...

, is located some 11 km south of Carletonville. In 1964, a sinkhole in the former mining village township of Westdene,

, buried the entire Oosthuizen family and their helper, alive. Situated some 5½ km south of Carletonville and being one of four village townships at the

Gold Mine, Westdene, was consequently abandoned and then later demolished. The subsequent housing shortage was quickly normalised by extending the Southdene village township with pre-fabricated asbestos housing. Approximately 170 families were housed in caravans at the once lovely, but now derelict, Blyvooruitsicht Recreation Centre. Some of the prefabricated houses in the extensions to Southdene were erected at a distance of only 400 meters south of the sinkhole, while some pre-existing housing in Southdene and Northdene are situated even closer to the sinkhole than that. Unknown at the time, on 28 March 2008 all asbestos products would be banned in South Africa as an extreme health hazard, but many asbestos prefabricated houses in Southdene and houses containing asbestos products in ceilings and roofs all around South Africa and the World, are still occupied today.

Geography

The town of

Oberholzer Oberholzer is a town in West Rand District Municipality in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The town is 85 km south-west of Johannesburg, just north-west of Carletonville. History Laid out on the farm ''Wonderfontein'', it was procla ...

is situated in the constituency of Carletonville & there are no distinct boundaries separating Oberholzer from Carletonville. Together, they make one city.http://www.merafong.gov.za/datafiles/pdf/MSDF%25202016-21%2520Annexure%2520C%2520Local%2520Spatial%2520Development%2520Directives.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwi07aGhi6bnAhWiQEEAHcMOBe0QFjATegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw2P-u6o9TVMF-zXSCus4q7v

Law and government

Government

Carletonville forms part of the Merafong City Local Municipality and is situated in the West Rand District Municipality of

Province. It is also the seat of Merafong City Local Municipality.

Economy

* The economy of the town is dominated by the villagers who live on property owned by the large gold mines surrounding the town. #It is also the home to one of the world's deepest mines.

Retail

Carletonville Mall, a 25,000m² shopping complex, opened its doors in 2015 with over 85 stores. The mall is anchored by Choppies, Pick n Pay, and Woolworths.

Notable people

Brian McMillan Brian Mervin McMillan (born 22 December 1963) played 38 Test matches and 78 One Day Internationals for South Africa from 1991 to 1998. He was rated by many as the best all-rounder in the world in the mid-1990s, and won South African Cricket ...

, South African cricketer *

Jaque Fourie ''Jaque'' (Spanish for the Chess move '' check'') was a Spanish chess magazine, published twice a month in Valencia. It started in San Sebastian in 1970 and was the Spanish leading chess magazine since then. Some of the best chess players This l ...

, South African

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

footballer * Joseph Dweba, South African

footballer

Twin Towns

Carletonville is twinned with: * Broomhedge,

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

References

External links

CNN.com
*

Blyvoor enviro
{{Authority control West Rand Populated places in the Merafong City Local Municipality Mining communities in South Africa