Gold mines are worked in the Tati district, the first discoveries having been made there in 1864.
The Sand River Convention of 1852 had not defined the western border of the state, and the discovery of gold at Tati to the northwest, together with the discovery of diamonds on the Vaal in 1867, offered Pretorius every inducement to extend his boundary.
The last named is the chief township in the Tati concession, the centre of a gold-mining region, and the most important white settlement in the protectorate.
In 1864 Karl Mauch discovered gold in the Tati district.
From the babbling station tannoy to the squeaking door of the hotel dining room, Tati gives inanimate objects a life of their own.