Krugersdorp

Krugersdorp, town, Gauteng province, South Africa. It lies on the Witwatersrand (ridge), at an elevation of 5,709 feet (1,740 m), northwest of Johannesburg. A mining and industrial centre, it was founded after the discovery of gold in 1887 and named for Paul Kruger, then president of the South African Republic (or the Transvaal). Gold continues to be mined locally even though payable ore deposits have declined significantly. The world’s first plant built to obtain uranium as a by-product of gold recovery opened there in 1952 but ceased operations by the mid-1980s. Deposits of manganese, asbestos, and limestone are also worked. The Paardekraal Monument in Krugersdorp marks the site of the proclamation for an independent Transvaal pledged on Dec. 16, 1880. Nearby are paleontological sites (including Sterkfontein) that have yielded australopithecine and other hominid remains. Pop. (2001) 86,618.