- Virginia, Free State
Virginia is a
gold mining town located in theLejweleputswa District Municipality of theFree State province inSouth Africa about 140 km (90 mi) northeast ofBloemfontein the provincial capital. Virginia is surrounded by some of the largest gold fields in Free State, and its economy is dominated by mining, gold-extraction plants, and the manufacture ofsulfuric acid from gold ore. It is also known for having the deepest pipe-mine into the earth on the planet.Fact|date=November 2007 Commercial farms in the surrounding area primarily growmaize (corn) and raise livestock. Virginia is located on the main rail line between Bloemfontein andJohannesburg .In 1890, two
railway surveyors from the state ofVirginia in theUnited States etched the name of their birthplace on a boulder near the farm Merriespruit. When a railway siding was eventually established at this spot, the name was adopted, and it stuck after the discovery of gold in 1955 which resulted in a mushrooming settlement on the banks of the Sand River. In 1988 the Sand River burst its banks and flooded parts of the town. A slime dam just outside of Virginia burst in 1994 sending a ten metre wave of mud through one of the suburbs, killing 11 people and marking a great turnaround in mining politics in South Africa.Fact|date=November 2007On the
5 December 2000 , Virginia was incorporated into theMatjhabeng Local Municipality along with the city ofWelkom and the towns ofAllanridge ,Hennenman ,Odendaalsrus andVentersburg . During theapartheid era, black people were forced to live outside Virginia in the location of Meloding.Virginia boasts the place where the ring was made that was featured in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.Fact|date=November 2007
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