Reivilo is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

situated 100 km southwest of

Vryburg Vryburg () is a large agricultural town with a population of approximately 89,120 situated in the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality of the North West Province (South Africa), North West Province of South Africa. It is the seat and ...

on the Ghaap Plateau in

North West Province North West ( ; ) is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Mahikeng. The province is located to the west of the major population centre and province of Gauteng and south of Botswana. History North West was incorporated after the end of ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Large scale

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

and

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

mining took place in the district. School at reivilo Reivilo hoerskool Reivilo combined school Tshepang Thuto primary School

History

The town was established in 1883 and at first named ''Cathcart West'' (to distinguish it from

Cathcart, Eastern Cape Cathcart is a town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, named after Sir George Cathcart, governor of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope 1852–1853. The town is situated on the N6 (South Africa), N6, north of Stutterheim en route to Qu ...

). The name was then changed in 1890 to ''Klein Boetsap'', and then finally it was renamed after Rev AJ Olivier (''Olivier'' reversed is ''Reivilo'').http://www.sa-venues.com/attractionsnwp/reivilo.php
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Economy

Reivilo is a traditional farming community. The main farming business is cattle, this is dictated by the geology of the area, because there is not enough arable soil for agriculture. Bedrock exists right to the ground surface, being an ancient and hard dolomite, with extraordinary stromatolitic features, representing life forms more than 2 billion years old. There was a successful cheese factory in Reivilo for many years. In the very early 1980s Shell South Africa (Pty) Ltd developed a lead and zinc mine near Reivilo called Pering. It operated successfully for about 18 years and then closed down. Shell mined about 18 million tonnes of ore, containing perhaps 750,000 tonnes of zinc and lead metal from the Pering Mine during that time. At present there is no mining taking place near Reivilo. The town today includes the Reivilo

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...

to the north of the town, and a small aeroplane landing strip , to the north-west.

References

{{Authority control Populated places in the Greater Taung Local Municipality Mining communities in South Africa Populated places established in 1883