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Hugh Hughes was appointed as General Manager of TGME after the war and on 14 July 1902 he reported as follows after visiting the mine at Pilgrim's Rest:
The machinery in the workshop is in splendid order. The Boers used our punching machines for the minting of a few hundred 1902 sovereigns... The three large safes inside the strong room were not touched in any way. The cash balance of £137-0s-10d was intact.
He also mentioned that bar goldto the value of £17 000 was untouched by the Boers.
At the first annual general meeting of the TGME mine in 1902 in Johannesburg, the chairperson said the following:
The action of the Boer authorities in the Lydenburg district in connection with the mines under their control has been highly creditable to them. Of course they commandeered all stores and material of which they could make any use, but they avoided wanton destruction. It must be remembered in this connection that our property, which is scattered over a great area, was under the control of the Boers throughout the whole period of the war, excepting for a few days when General Buller's forces passed through Pilgrim's Rest.109
Our manager, on his return, found all the Company's safes, books, documents, and plans as he had left them in the strong room. He found unlocked in our store room the lead bullion for September and part of October 1899 and, above all, he found practically intact the whole of the buildings, plant and machinery, valued at 200 000 pound.110
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