Reivilo

Reivilo
Reivilo Location of Reivilo in North West
Coordinates: 27°34′S 24°12′E
Country	South Africa
Province	North West
District municipality	Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati
Local municipality
Time zone	SAST (UTC+2)
Website	tourismnorthwest.co.za

Reivilo is a town situated 100 km southwest of Vryburg on the Ghaap Plateau in North West Province of South Africa. Lead and Zinc mining used to take place in the district.

History

The town was established in 1883 and at first named Cathcart West (to distinguish it from Cathcart, Eastern Cape). The name was then changed in 1890 to Klein Boetsap, and then finally it was renamed after Rev AJ Olivier (Olivier reversed is Reivilo).

Economy

Reivilo is a traditional farming communinity. The main farming business is cattle, and this is dictated by the geology of the area, because there is not enough soil for agriculture. Bedrock comes right to surface, the bedrock being an ancient and hard dolomite, with extraordinary stromatolitic features, representing life forms more than 2 billion years old. There was a successful cheese factory in Reivilo for many years.

In the very early 1980s Shell South Africa Pty Ltd (the oil company) developed a lead and zinc mine very near Reivilo called Pering. It operated successfully for about 18 years and then closed down. Shell mined about 18 million tonnes of ore, containing perhaps 750,000 tonnes of zinc and lead metal from the Pering Mine in that time. The mine is now closed. At the present time there is no mining taking place anywhere near Reivilo.

The town today includes the Reivilo golf course to the north of the town, and a small landing strip to the north-west.