MyJHB

Stuff from Johannesburg

Qantas pauses Perth-Paris plans over Perth Airport stoush

Johannesburg in the news:

  1. Qantas pauses Perth-Paris plans over Perth Airport stoush: Speaking to the broader issues with management at Perth Airport and Qantas' planned Perth-Johannesburg route that didn't take off, Joyce says that … – Google Alert – Johannesburg
  2. All-state numbers climb: Sydney Townsend, Johannesburg-Lewiston, 2:49.95. 300 hurdles — 4. Emily Norkowski, Forest Area, 48.00; 6. Maddie Cochran, East Jordan, 49.46. – Google Alert – Johannesburg
  3. SAA board accepts CEO resignation: JOHANNESBURG – The national carrier's board of directors confirmed they have accepted SAA CEO, Vuyani Jarana's resignation in a statement on … – Google Alert – Johannesburg
  4. Scores of trees planted in Johannesburg to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi: Scores of trees were planted at three sites in and around Johannesburg on Sunday to mark the150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's birth. – Google Alert – Johannesburg
  5. SAHRC's Jones undeterred by death threats: JOHANNESBURG – The Human Rights Commission's Buang Jones says he has been receiving death threats. He's part of a team investigating … – Google Alert – Johannesburg

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Have you tried: Visiting Port Elizabeth?

Did you know this about Johannesburg? FNB Stadium is the largest stadium in Africa: The stadium has 195 executive suites and a capacity of 94,736. The stadium was completed in 1989 and renovated in 2009 just in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. FNB Stadium is the home ground of Kaizer Chiefs FC and has hosted various sporting events and concerts. Guns N’ Roses, Foo Fighters, Rihanna, Bruce Springsteen, Kings of Leon, Linkin Park, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Eagles, Neil Diamond, Coldplay, Metallica and a long list of other famous artists have performed here.

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Top Star Drive-In: Destroyed by What Created it

However, the very thing that created the Top Star eventually destroyed it. Because the early miners had used crude methods, the Ferreira Dump—and dozens of others like it—still contained significant traces of gold. As the price of gold rose and new chemical extraction technologies (like the carbon-in-pulp process) made it profitable to “mine the waste,” the ground beneath the Top Star became more valuable than the cinema itself. In 2006, despite fierce opposition from heritage groups who argued that the dump and the drive-in were culturally significant landmarks, the projectors were turned off for the last time.

The reclamation of the dump was a staggering industrial feat. Starting in 2008, mining giant DRDGold used high-pressure water cannons to “monitor” the dump, turning 5 million tons of solid earth back into a liquid slurry. This slurry was then piped 40 kilometers across the province to a processing plant in Brakpan. By 2011, the “mountain” had completely vanished. The 50-meter-high plateau that had dominated the southern skyline for a century was reduced to a flat, dusty crater.

The disappearance of the Top Star is a poignant symbol of Johannesburg’s “extractive” nature. It is a city that consumes itself to stay alive; even its historical landmarks are subject to the fluctuating price of minerals on the London and New York stock exchanges. Today, if you drive along the M2, there is an empty space in the sky where the Top Star used to be. While the reclamation removed a source of toxic dust and “acid mine drainage,” it also erased a piece of the city’s collective memory. The land where the gold-flecked mountain once stood is now being rehabilitated for light industrial use, proving that in eGoli, even the horizon is for sale if there’s enough gold hidden inside it.