Frances Baard District Municipality Investment Prospectus

8
NATURAL RESOURCES
AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES
The area has well-irrigated soils, limestone deposits and a rich heritage.
Diamonds gave the area now called the Frances Baard District
Municipality a huge comparative advantage for several decades
after the first sparkler was detected in 1867. The town of Kimberley
became a magnet for adventurers and entrepreneurs from all over
the world and led innovation in many ways. Diamonds are still found
but other mineral resources have been discovered, the soils of
the district have been turned to good advantage through clever
irrigation systems and the history of the area – including the history
of the diamond fields – is now a comparative advantage in itself in
terms of attracting tourists.
Diamonds continue to be mined in the district and in one case,
inside the city limits of Kimberley. Limestone deposits west of
Delportshoop sustain a large mining and cement-plant operation of
Afrisam. More than 15-million tons of limestone is quarried annually
to produce around one-million tons of cement. The long legacy of
mining means that the skills supporting the sector are still available.
The foundry business that De Beers started back in 1891 is still
supplying mining houses in South Africa and other parts of the
world. Kew Foundries has also supplied sheave wheels to be used on
one of India’s largest hydroelectric projects.
Most of the agricultural production of the Frances Baard District
Municipality comprises field crops, followed by animal products
and the animal and horticulture subsectors. Products include
wheat, fruit, peanuts, maize, cotton, olives, cattle, game farming,
viticulture, fishing and vegetables. Companies such as SA Pecans
and Olives SA have their headquarters in Hartswater, which is
at the centre of the Vaalharts Irrigation Scheme, while Africa’s
largest onion producer and a big supplier of potatoes, carrots and
beetroot to local and international markets, Wildeklawer, is located
further along the Vaal River. GWK, whose pecan nuts are pictured
here being packaged, is another major producer. The company’s
headquarters lie just outside the district municipality’s boundaries
in the town of Douglas, but its big silo at Modder River constitutes
an important part of the farming infrastructure of the area.
The sun that gives life to the produce described above is also
the resource that drew Mainstream Renewable Power to the
district to construct the 50MW Droogfontein Solar Park. The
100ha park is owned by a consortium including Globeleq, Thebe
Investment Corp, Enzani Technologies, Usizo Engineering and
the Droogfontein Communal Property Association. With generous
incentives on offer, there are opportunities for investors to
support the manufacturing of renewable energy components like
solar panels or solar panel frames.
Kimberley’s early life as a diamond-rush town is fascinating and
the fact that the region has been the site of conflict down the ages
means that tourism in the Frances Baard District Municipality has a
distinctive historical character. Kimberley is home to several museums
and the Big Hole is a big attraction. The Kimberley Diamond Brewing
Company takes advantage of its location close to
the confluence of the Modder and Riet Rivers to
offer cooling beverages.