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Ed Show is on top of the ratings again

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/05/2014 at 07:34


South African GOLD  













mine_project



3566 meters deep   = 11,699 ft ( over two miles deep...)  




















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My wife and I lived in Klerksdorp in 1987-1988.  I was working the drilling fluid on drilling rigs that were coring for gold.  We had a satellite warehouse in Stilfontein that my buddy and I worked out of.  The main office was in Krugersdorp in Johannesburg.    



http://rwrant.co.za/10-facts-klerksdorp/













South Africa still ran steam engines!  








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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/05/2014 at 08:52

We were right on the edges of the Kalahari Desert.  It is a beautiful country.  




Rustenburg, South Africa 





    







We spent a weekend at the Hunter's Rest Hotel in Rustenburg  



     


We got caught in the middle of a coup d'etat in Maseru, the capital of Lesotho, a country that is landlocked and surrounded by South Africa, in December 1987.



     


We had spent the night at the Lesotho Sun ( hotel and casino ) in Maseru and were planning to go to Teyateyaneng the next morning to look at some of their famous native pottery when we discovered that the military had taken over the government.  We were eating breakfast at a sidewalk café when troops started coming down the sidewalk on both sides of the street.  









We got our stuff out the hotel, and headed out of town up the road to T-Y ( as that town is called..) and ran into a huge Army Roadblock a few miles out of town.  






  





They surrounded the little pickup and stuck their machine guns into our faces through the open windows of the truck.
Finally, they checked our papers and let us pass and we went on about thirty miles to the town with the pottery.  But, when we got there, we discovered that the entire town was overflowing with mercenaries and soldiers.  We hardly had enough room to back into an alley in order to turn around and get the hell out of there.  My wife had our 1 1/2 year old daughter in her lap in the little pickup.






We managed to get out and across the Caledon River and back into South Africa in one piece.   




    

We did, however, buy three or four pots on the way out of town!  






Edited by Son of Ed - July/05/2014 at 11:18
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/05/2014 at 09:27
                    

On the way to T-Y on that fateful day we saw women like this dancing in a plowed field!  




     







We saw men with cattle crossing the road in front of us. They probably knew nothing about the coup.     






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In November 1987 I was sent to Port Elizabeth to work on a rig up in the hills outside of town.  This was an American drilling rig with an international crew and they were drilling for oil.  




What a gorgeous place.  



 





















































The rig was about halfway to Grahamstown, way up on a hill.  We could see Algoa Bay from the location and even one of the islands. 




 

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Every day the weather would make up over Algoa Bay, slowly building up into a Fog Storm and bringing some rain with it up into the hills.  You could watch it being pulled together from up on our vantage point.     










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Indian Ocean Blue.  The most beautiful ocean I have ever seen.  




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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/06/2014 at 10:50

In 1987, my bud crashed his bakkie into a pile of boulders and destroyed the pickup ( bakkie ).  He was thrown from the vehicle so he managed to survive.  It was up around Koster or somewhere.  The truck wound up being towed to a wrecking yard in Koster and I took pictures of it.  









I was down in Port Elizabeth when this happened.  When I came back after two weeks, I was re-directed to go to Stilfontein/Klerksdorp to manage his rigs until he recovered.  After that, I would just work out of there with him.   



We had a rig running up north of Northam heading toward Thabazimbi.  That's where he was going when he wrecked.  

I went from Port Elizabeth to Welkom for a week, and then moved into Klerksdorp to relieve my friend.  



Koster, North West ( formerly Transvaal ), South Africa....








Welkom,  Orange Free State









   












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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/12/2014 at 20:16
South Africa had Black Homelands throughout the country that were independently governed but were not recognized by the UN or The United States and most other countries of the world.    


They were like Indian Reservations to lure Black People to move into them and to feel as though they were being an Independent Nation, although they were still politically subject to South Africa.  







These Homelands had their own capitals, governments and armies!   


When you drove through one of these Homelands you would be stopped by Army troops blocking the road and had to show your papers, etc. before they would let you go.  They would go through your car and might steal whatever they wanted.  A firearm would be confiscated.  I never took a gun with me when I had to go through one of these Homelands.  People could get shot in the tall grass by the side of the road.  


I had to travel through Bophuthatswana several times a week---Tuesdays and Thursdays---going up to Northam to check drilling rigs.  

  



Here are some smart-looking BOP soldiers of the Defence Force.  They did not look that smart out in the bush.  When they were out in the bush, they looked like the soldiers in the movie DARK OF THE SUN!    




Scenes from the movie DARK OF THE SUN....














     




The country up around Northam  


     















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The first time I ran into the BOP Army roadblock was in late November 1987 on my first trip up to the drilling rig which was out in the bush between Northam and Thabazimbi.  I came flying over the crest of hill at about 120 km ( about 75 mph ) and there they were, spread all over the road.  I slammed on the brakes and came skidding to a halt as they converged on my little truck.  There wasn't another soul on that road.  It was just south of Sun City.  There was no one on that highway but me.     


    




















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They surrounded my pickup and poked their assault rifles into both open windows.  I was looking into the muzzles, hoping that these dudes wouldn't screw up and jostle one another and accidentally fire the things.  Some of them ( most of them ) didn't look too intelligent.  





They were carrying South Africa's R1 assault rifle....very carelessly, I thought.  And they were pointing them right at me from two feet away!   


     


Somebody started jabbering at me in Afrikaans and when I responded in English and handed him my passport, confusion ensued and someone hollered for somebody with more authority who could speak English to come over and talk to me.   


They looked at my passport, kind of ransacked the pickup ( under the seat) , looked in the bed where I had drilling fluid supplies, and then motioned for me to get the hell out of there.   









Edited by Son of Ed - July/16/2014 at 19:07
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The drilling rig in Northam-Thabazimbi was off the road to the west, out in the bush.  The Toolpusher ( 'chargehand' he is called in South Africa and in other Commonwealth places...) lived in some kind of a shack on location.  The hands lived in native shacks out there, too.   













I had to cross a creek to get to the rig.  


On the way back to Klersdorp, I had to do the roadblock thing again.   










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That was every Tuesday and Thursday.   Bucky       
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" So, what did you do for excitement?  Go to a car bombing?!! "   







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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September/07/2014 at 20:21


My wife and I lived on Neethling Street.  You can see it on the map.   



     






    

My buddy and I sometimes had to go down into Buffelsfontein Mine in Stilfontein to check the drilling mud on a drilling rig that was two miles down deep in the mine.  The rig was drilling even deeper, to see where the gold was running....

In those days you could not take a camera down into the mine.  I guess you can now. 


You weren't supposed to take cigarettes down there, either, but we did.  






It was hot down there, and wet.  We went down at eight AM and could not get an elevator back up until 3PM.  We were stuck down there all that time, having finished our work long ago....




  










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We wore company jumpsuits and hats with lights on them.....










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