A VISIT TO THE WITWATERSRAND ORGANISED BY BARLOW RAND-OCTOBER 1977 A tour party made up of Standard 9 pupils was treated to an interesting and informative itinerary. We visited The Rand Refinery, Barlow's Household Appliance Manufacturing Company, Durban Roodepoort Deep gold mine. Barlow's Heavy Engineering, Barlow's Tractor Company and the Stock Exchange. The Rand Refinery receives all the gold tliat is mined. The refining process pro duces gold of 99,5% purity for monetary purposes and 99,9% for industrial use. The series of operations proceed like clockwork. Security is extremely tight. All the sweep ings and the scrapings from the crucibles are recycled. Regular and frequent weighings keep a check on the gold during the process. The general chemistry and the electrolytic processes were fascinating. The average gold production for all the mines is 11 grams per metric ton of ore. This becomes more meaningful if we think of 11 parts of gold produced for every million parts of ore mined! At the Manufacturing company at Kew we saw electric stoves, air conditioners, electric and paraffin fridges and washing machines being made. A new refrigerator comes off the line every Ivi minutes and a stoppage of an hour causes an approximate loss of R8000.00. Quality control is very strict. Several lads asked whether the operators were rotated from one routine operation to another to provide a relieving change. We heard, with interest, that it has been found that the confidence acquired in the knowledge of being able to do a job well is more important for the majority of the workers. Those who can adapt quickly and efficiently to different operations are promoted to team leaders and supervisors in production and quality control. The highlight of the day at the gold mine was a visit underground. A windy journey down an incline shaft took us to about 2500 feet. This trip proved more frightening for some than for others. Crunching and sloshing our way along in overalls, helmets and hobnail boots, we were able to look up and down a slope dipping at about 65° and see drilling in progress. I know I could work underground and find it challenging. I sensed that the lad I was following felt the same way. In addition we enjoyed an introductory discussion on the layout of the levels under ground; methods of assessing physical and mental aptitudes of the African miners; the gold extraction process and an excellent midday meal prepared by several wives. The lads were intrigued. They were also surprised by the high salaries paid to underground workers. We travelled to Benoni and saw heavy engineering from the pattern shop where it all stands to the machine shop. Moulds are cast in the foundry and then cleaned and machined in the workshops. We saw huge mills and winding gears and drums as well as railway trucks being assembled. Lunch that day at Jan Smuts and a visit to Barlow's tractor company at Isando. These giants powered by the well known Caterpillar engines belong to a sector of industry all their own. Being so very expensive, idle-time must be avoided. Availability of parts - all computerised - and the repairing is most efficient. Mobile maintenance units are used for emergency repairs and are used for regular servicing around the countryside. Files are kept giving the history of all machines. We saw,in a temperature controlled environment, instruments capable of measuring to the order of 10 to 20 millionths ofan inch! This factory also assembles the Oshcosh trucks. On our last morning we travelled to Holland Street and visited the Stock Exchange. A well presented introductory talk followed by an excellent film on the history of the Exchange prepared us for viewing the activities "between the chains". Watching the brokers and their clerks on the floor showed another side of the employment sphere. Here a lad with a good head for figures and a keen understanding of financial matters can feel at home and find a challenge that a career must provide. In assessing the value of this visit I shall look at three points, a) The work being done and the work environment seen 18
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