Senwes Scenario December 2016 / January 2017 | Page 12
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AREA F O C U S
Odendaalsrus
O
dendaalsrus was founded
on 12 December 1912
and used to be the mother city
of the Free State Gold-fields.
Odendaalsrus is also the oldest
gold town in the Lejweleputswa
district and used to be a few smaller farms before it became a town.
Gold was discovered on the farm
Geduld in 1946 and it forms part
of the Matjhabeng Municipality
with Welkom, Allanridge,
Hennenman and Virginia.
ODENDAALSRUS BRANCH
JD du Plessis is the branch manager at Odendaalsrus as well. He
has been involved in the industry
for more than 12 years, 10 years
of which at Senwes. JD is one
of only two branch managers
in the Hinterland stable who
manage two branches, Welkom
and Odendaalsrus, the other one
being Johnny Bezuidenhout, who
manages the Wesselsbron and
Tierfontein branches. 11 staff
members work at this branch,
eight of which on a permanent
basis.
THE BRANCH ITSELF
The current branch was built in
1994 and the old Senwes branch
was situated as you approach
Odendaalsrus from the Welkom
and Allanridge side. Some producers remember buying from Senwes
as early as 1966.
SENWES ODENDAALSRUS SILO
Senwes Grainlink's Odendaalsrus
silo was erected in 1971. It started
off with 10 bins and a decade
later, in 1981, the rest of the silo
bins were added, which brought
the total to 19 bins. The silo manager is Braam Jacobs and he has
been working for Senwes for more
than 22 years. The silo also ha s
four other staff members, Arthur
Radebe (Control Panel Operator),
Lazarus Sebidla (Tractor Driver)
The Odendaalsrus
silo has 19 bins and a
capacity of 96 000 tons.
10
DEC 2016/JAN 2017 • SENWES Scenario
104 years old!
Odendaalsrus’
centenary celebrations
were held in 2012.
and Jeremia Hlaza and Kenneth
Mokomatsili (General Workers). A
network of silos are within reach
of the Odendaalsrus silo, with
Allanridge and Losdoorns being
the nearest and Welgeleë, Geneva,
Hennenman and Wesselsbron
within a 50 kilometre radius.
SILO BINS
The silo has 7 bins of 7 400 tons
each, 7 bins with a capacity of 4
800 tons each and 4 bins with a
capacity of 1 000 tons each. The
total capacity of the silo is approximately 96 000 tons. The silo has
two aeration fans of 18.5 kW each
as well as a drying kiln.
ALLANRIDGE
The Allanridge Study Group is
active in this region. They have
approximately 50 members and
Francois Steyn is the newly elected
chairman.
Allanridge also has an interesting history. In 1933 Allan Roberts
sunk a borehole, which indicated
the possibility of gold in the area.
Further exploration resulted in the
sinking of three mines, namely
Riebeeck Gold Mine, as well as
Jeanette and Loraine Gold Mines.
Flamingos are another charac
teristic of the area. Thousands
of flamingos can be seen in the
Allanridge silo area.
And so the circles end, until
your next visit to this region...