People/explorer, prospector

Carl Mauch

Carl Mauch (1837–1875), explorer, prospector, geologist, from Germany. Linked to gold, coal.

The lucky break

Mapped the country between the Vaal and the Limpopo and in 1866-67 found several gold fields in Matabele country. In 1868, on a British-backed search for diamonds in Transvaal, he found the Witwatersrand gold field.1

The downfall

His Witwatersrand find was only recognised about 15 years later. A malaria attack ended his plan to push north, and he died in Stuttgart aged 37.1

Legacy

His maps were the first of south-east Africa, and the NDB says they carried geological notes on gold and coal. Funds for his equipment came from about 2600 thalers raised through August Petermann.1

Story cards

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Mines

DiscoveredWitwatersrand main reef mines, 1886 to 1887A German explorer found Rand gold 18 years before the rush, and nobody believed him.1

Sources

  1. Mauch, Carl Neue Deutsche Biographie / Deutsche Biographie

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0; Underground mining equipment by Kaupo Kikkas, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Pangkalpinang. Mijn 3b. Een reeks koelies bezig met het transporteeren van grond, Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Kimberley, South Africa: miners and washing gear at the Bultfontein diamond mine. Woodburytype, 1888, after a photograph by Robert Harris., Harris, Robert, active 1881-1888. (Public Domain Mark 1.0).