Welcome to the iron triangle

Speak of the Kalahari and people immediately picture gemsbok on the red dunes, immense silence and spectacular sunsets. But this sandy region is home to the fastest growing town in South Africa, along with one of the largest opencast iron-ore mines and one of the longest, heaviest production trains on the planet. Here you’ll also find the biggest of only two camel-thorn forests in the world, as well as the largest freshwater spring in the southern hemisphere.

Kathu

Heavy metal

Kathu is considered the iron-ore capital of South Africa because the massive Sishen mine lies just south of the town. But it’s been a long time since this was the only mine in the area, and Kathu is now surrounded by countless smaller iron-ore mines. Although it’s hard to believe, just a few years ago this part of the world looked quite different. Forward Olifant is someone who remembers it well because he “grew up with it all”.

“Iscor started mining in 1953 on the farm called Dingle,” says Forward. “Back then, the mining town was situated at the mine, called Sishen, while the main town was only for white people. There was also the compound, called White City, where black people lived. They gave it that name because all the houses were white. The coloured people lived at Schoutenkamp, beside the railway tracks and the old Kuruman road.”

The mine grew to such an extent that many more houses had to be built between 1972 and 1977, leading to the founding of Kathu, about 15km north of Sishen.

“From ’77, however, the worldwide sanctions affected mining here and many people lost their jobs, which meant that both Sishen and Kathu were only at half occupancy. So the