Western Deep Levels mine, 43 miles west of Johannesburg, South Africa, is the world's deepest mine and one of the country's major goldmines, producing 263 pounds of gold a day. But the job of getting the precious metal from the earth is brutal and dangerous. Two tons of rock must be torn out for a yield of one ounce of gold. It takes nearly an hour for the minders, plunging down at 40 miles per hour in steel cages, to descend 13,000 feet to the dark maze of tunnels little more than a yard high, two miles underground, where they work in stifling heat. A miner worked his way into a small tunnel containing gold reef, or band, in the Western Deep Levels goldmine. (South Africa - Mining).
Photo measures 9.75 x 8 inches. Photo is dated 01-29-1979.
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