West Driefontein

West Driefontein
West Driefontein West Driefontein
Coordinates: 26°23′S 27°26′E
Country	South Africa
Province	Gauteng
District	West Rand
Municipality	Merafong City
Area
• Total	47.54 km2 (18.36 sq mi)
Population  (2011)
• Total	2,857
• Density	60/km2 (160/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
• Black African	97.1%
• Coloured	1.3%
• Indian/Asian	0.4%
• White	1.2%
First languages (2011)
• Sotho	28.4%
• Xhosa	27.2%
• Tsonga	15.0%
• Zulu	13.8%
• Other	15.6%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)

Flooded level, West Driefontein mine, South Africa. The dolomite overlying the gold reefs hosts much groundwater, giving the mines flooding problems.

West Driefontein was a South African gold mining company belonging to the Goldfields Group (now Sibanye Gold).

It lies approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) outside Carletonville next to Blyvooruitsig and East Driefontein. It used to be the richest gold mine in the world before it was flooded by water.