Ogies is a coal-mining town situated along the R545 and R555 Regional Route in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa.
The town is located approximately 29 km south-west of Witbank (officially renamed eMalahleni) and 70 km north-east of Springs.
The town lies at the intersection of the R545 and R555 routes. The R545 connects southwards to Kriel and northwards to Balmoral. The R555 connects south-west to Springs and north-east to eMalahleni (formerly Witbank).
Ogies is part of the Emalahleni Local Municipality within the Nkangala District Municipality in Mpumalanga province.
Ogies is an important railway junction on the Springs to Witbank rail-line, a line that connects to the Port of Richards Bay. It has several branches of tracks that service the coal mines close to the town.
African Exploration Mining and Finance Corporation built its first coal mine at Vlakfontein, near Ogies, which was completed in January 2011. It mostly supplies coal to the nearby Kendal Power Station.
History
Ogies was laid out in 1928 on the farm Oogiesfontein, ‘fountain with many “eyes” or springs’. The name is derived from that of the farm.
The town developed around train station built there in 1928. The original name of the town was Oogies but that changed to the current version in 1939.
