[en] South Africa's participation in the nuclear industry was limited to the production of uranium and research, with minor commercial activities. The commissioning of the Koeberg Nuclear power station in 1984 placed South Africa firmly on the path of commercial nuclear power generation. A unique, locally developed uranium enrichment process will enable South Africa to be self-sufficient in its nuclear-fuel needs. Uranium has always been of secondary importance to gold as a target commodity in the exploration of the quartz-pebble conglomerates. In the Witwatersrand Basin it is estimated that in excess of R100 million was spent on exploration during 1985. This was spent primarily in the search for gold but as many of the gold reefs are uraniferous, new uranium resources are being discovered concurrently with those of gold. Uranium mineralization is present in rocks which encompass almost the whole of the geological history of South Africa. Significant mineralization is restricted to five fairly well-defined time periods. Each period is characterized by a distinct type or combination of types of mineralization. Resource estimates are divided into separate categories that reflect different levels of confidence in the quantities reported. The resource categories are further separated into levels of exploitability based on the estimated cost of their exploitation. A major part (87%) of South Africa's uranium resources is present as a by-product of gold in the quartz-pebble conglomerates of the Witwatersrand Basin. The uranium resources in the reasonably assured resources (RAR) and estimated additional resources - category I (EAR-I) catogories were 483 300 t U. Production during 1985 was 4880 t U. Although a production peaking at over 1200 t U/a is theoretically attainable, it is considered, from market projections, that a production ceilling of 10 000 t U/a would be more realistic