People/geologist, prospector

Hans Merensky

Hans Merensky (1871–1952), geologist, prospector, from Germany. Linked to platinum, diamonds, gold.

The lucky break

In 1924 he traced platinum-bearing rock from a stream in the Waterberg district to its source and soon found the Merensky Reef, a platinum layer about one metre thick across the Bushveld complex.1

The downfall

Interned for five years near Pietermaritzburg in the First World War with damaged health. Falling prices closed all but two of his platinum mines by 1930.1

Legacy

His find set off a platinum rush and two mining companies he founded. The reef is among the world's largest platinum deposits. He also suspected diamonds in Namaqualand fossil oyster beds.1

Story cards

Sources

  1. Merensky, Hans 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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Pictures: Pangkalpinang. Mijn 3b. Een reeks koelies bezig met het transporteeren van grond, Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0); South Africa: a crowd of people gathered outside The Goldfields offices in Johannesburg. 1896., Unknown (Wellcome Collection) (Public Domain Mark 1.0); NASA's ASTER Shows Brazilian City After Dam Disaster, NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)); Kimberley, South Africa: the Kimberley mine and town. Woodburytype, 1888, after a photograph by Robert Harris., Harris, Robert, active 1881-1888. (Public Domain Mark 1.0).