Steelpoort is a mining town on the R555 road in

Sekhukhune District Municipality The Sekhukhune District Municipality () is one of the 5 districts of the Limpopo province of South Africa. The seat is Groblersdal. As of 2011, the majority of its 1,076,840 inhabitants spoke Sepedi. The district code is DC47. This district i ...

in the

Limpopo Limpopo () is the northernmost Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The term Limpopo is derived from Rivombo (Livombo/Lebombo), a ...

province 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 ...

. It is located on the border with

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Nguni languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It shares bor ...

province. Mining operations around Steelpoort include the Dwarsrivier chrome mine (30 km from Steelpoort, located in Mpumalanga)Assmang chrome: Dwarsrivier mine
/ref> owned by Assmang, Tweefontein chrome mine and Tubatse Ferrochrome, owned by Samancor, Two Rivers and Modikwa platinum mines managed by

Patrice Motsepe Patrice Tlhopane Motsepe (born 28 January 1962) is a South African billionaire businessman and football administrator. Patrice Motsepe was born to Kgosi Augustine Motsepe, a chief of the Mmakau branch of the Tswana people. Since March 2021, ...

’s

African Rainbow Minerals African Rainbow Minerals Limited is a mining company based in South Africa. ARM has interests in a wide range of mines, including platinum and platinum group metals (PGMs), iron, coal, copper, and gold. ARM's Goedgevonden coalmine near Witbank i ...

, as well as Mototolo platinum mine and the Lion Ferrochrome smelter, both owned by

Xstrata Xstrata plc was an Anglo-Swiss Multinational corporation, multinational mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It was a major producer of coal (and the world's largest exporter o ...

and Marula Platinum (PTY) LTD owned by Impala Platinum. The name ''Steelpoort'' is believed to be derived from a hunting expedition that took place either in the late 19th century or the early 20th century. When a group of Voortrekkers from Natal under Frans Joubert had settled there, a man called Scholtz shot an elephant at dusk and on returning next morning found that the tusks had been removed. The river flowing through the poort was then called Steelpoort River (‘steel’ meaning steal). An increase in the mining of chrome and magnetite led to the construction of a railway line between Steelpoort and

Lydenburg Lydenburg, also known as Mashishing, is a town in Thaba Chweu Local Municipality, on the Mpumalanga highveld, South Africa. It is situated on the Sterkspruit/Dorps River tributary of the Lepelle River at the summit of the Long Tom Pass. It h ...

in 1924.

References

Populated places in the Fetakgomo Tubatse Local Municipality Mining communities in South Africa {{Limpopo-geo-stub