Johannesburg was built on gold, and the gold is nearly gone. The Witwatersrand basin that gave the city its reason to exist has been mined for 140 years, and the tonnage passing through its mills peaked in the mid-1990s. Some geologists now expect no profitable Witwatersrand mine to be left by around 2035. If you are looking for a booming deep-level gold industry around Johannesburg, you will not find one. What you will find is more interesting, and more honest, than the postcard version.
Here is what still operates around the city, and where the real activity has moved. It is a useful correction for anyone selling into Gauteng mining.
Are there still working gold mines in Johannesburg?
A few, and they are among the deepest and most remarkable on earth, but the historic mass of Johannesburg gold mining has wound down. South Africa’s total gold output fell to about 99 tonnes in 2024, a fraction of its peak, and exploration spending in the country collapsed from around 900 million dollars in 2006 to roughly 43 million in 2025. That 95 percent drop tells you how the market views new deep-level gold. The grade is depleting, the mines run close to four kilometres deep, and the heat, seismicity and cost make new development extraordinarily hard.
What deep mines are left?
Two survivors stand out. Mponeng, owned by Harmony Gold on the West Wits line at the Gauteng border, is the deepest mine in the world at nearly 3,900 metres. It produced about 281,350 ounces in Harmony’s 2024 financial year, and rather than closing it, Harmony approved a roughly 7.9 billion rand extension in 2024 that stretches its life toward 2040 at around 260,000 ounces a year. South Deep, owned by Gold Fields on the Witwatersrand at about three kilometres deep, is the other long-life survivor and one of the largest gold reserves left in the country.
There is even a rare new entrant. West Wits Mining’s Qala Shallows launched in late 2025 as South Africa’s first new underground gold mine in fifteen years, targeting a shallower, lower-cost orebody. It is the exception that proves the rule, and its shallow depth is precisely the point.
See where Gauteng’s real activity is
AMIQ tracks the operations and projects still buying around Johannesburg, with verified contacts at each.
Where has the real activity moved?
Into the mine dumps. The most active gold business around Johannesburg today does not dig new rock at all. It reprocesses the tailings left behind by a century of mining, and the leader is DRDGOLD, majority owned by Sibanye-Stillwater.
DRDGOLD is the world leader in gold tailings retreatment. Its Ergo operation near Brakpan on the East Rand and its Far West operation near Carletonville work through enormous historic dumps, one of which holds more than four billion tonnes of material. In the half-year to December 2024 the company produced about 157,653 ounces and lifted revenue to 4.8 billion rand. Its Vision 2028 plan commits around 10 billion rand to raise throughput and annual output toward six tonnes of gold by 2028, with new plants and tailings facilities coming online through 2026.
This is the growth story the deep mines cannot offer. The gold is already out of the ground, sitting in dumps that scar the city’s southern skyline, and modern processing can recover what old technology left behind. It is lower risk, lower cost, and it turns an environmental liability into a producing asset.
The diamond mine the gold story forgets
Gauteng’s most famous working mine is not a gold mine at all. Cullinan, east of Pretoria, has been producing diamonds since 1903 and gave the world the largest gem diamond ever found, the 3,106 carat Cullinan, cut into the British crown jewels. Petra Diamonds runs it today as an underground block-cave operation with a record of yielding large, high-value stones that few mines anywhere can match. In a province defined by a declining goldfield, Cullinan is a reminder that Gauteng still hosts a world-class orebody of an entirely different kind, with the underground engineering, crushing and sorting supply needs that go with it.
The shadow industry underground
Around 6,000 abandoned or ownerless mine workings dot South Africa, and the Witwatersrand holds the densest cluster. Into that vacuum has come illegal mining at industrial scale: the zama zamas working disused shafts and pillars, often controlled by armed syndicates, sometimes underground for months. The human cost surfaces periodically in tragedies, and the commercial cost lands on legal operators through theft, sabotage and security spend. For suppliers this is a grim but genuine market: shaft sealing and plugging, access control, surveillance systems, drone patrols and armed response are now standing line items for every operator and for the state programmes trying to close historic workings faster than they are reopened.
The water bill a century of mining left behind
When the pumps stopped in the dying mines, the void beneath the Witwatersrand began to flood, and the water that rises is acidic and metal-laden. Acid mine drainage is Gauteng’s permanent mining legacy, managed by state-run pumping and treatment stations across the basin that must run indefinitely to keep the toxic water below the environmental critical level. Indefinitely is the important word: this is a procurement market with no closure date, buying pumps, piping, neutralisation reagents, sludge handling and monitoring instrumentation year after year. Combined with the tailings clean-up, it makes environmental engineering the most durable mining business in the province.
What does this mean for suppliers?
It means reading the Gauteng market correctly rather than romantically. The opportunities split into two very different streams. The deep survivors, Mponeng and South Deep, are long-life operations with steady needs for specialised deep-level equipment, ventilation, cooling and support. The tailings-reprocessing sector, led by DRDGOLD, is the one actually expanding, with a multi-billion-rand build-out of plants, pipelines, storage facilities and the services around them.
Chasing new deep-level gold projects around Johannesburg is chasing a wind-down. Following the reprocessing boom and the two deep survivors is where the real procurement sits. AMIQ tracks 2,200+ African mining projects with verified owner and engineer contacts, so you can tell which operations are investing and which are closing. It is available through AMIQ. For context, see gold mining in South Africa and mining in South Africa.
Frequently asked questions
Is gold still mined in Johannesburg?
Only in a limited way. Most historic deep-level Witwatersrand mining has wound down. A few ultra-deep mines survive, notably Harmony’s Mponeng and Gold Fields’ South Deep, while the most active gold business around the city is now the reprocessing of old mine dumps.
What is the deepest mine in the world?
Mponeng, owned by Harmony Gold on the West Wits line at the edge of Gauteng, reaching nearly 3,900 metres below surface. Harmony extended its life toward 2040 with a major investment in 2024.
Can gold be recovered from old mine dumps?
Yes. DRDGOLD, majority owned by Sibanye-Stillwater, is the world leader in gold tailings retreatment and reprocesses century-old Johannesburg dumps, producing well over 150,000 ounces in the half-year to December 2024 and expanding under its Vision 2028 plan.
Are there diamond mines in Gauteng?
One of the world’s most famous: Cullinan, east of Pretoria, operated by Petra Diamonds. Producing since 1903, it yielded the 3,106 carat Cullinan diamond and still regularly produces large, high-value stones from its underground block-cave operation.
What are zama zamas?
Illegal miners who work South Africa’s abandoned shafts and old workings, most densely across the Witwatersrand. Often organised by armed syndicates, they impose heavy security and sealing costs on legal operators and the state.
