Brits

Brits

Brits was originally a railway station among a cluster of granite hills on the farm Roodekopje (Dutch for Red Hillock). It became a town in 1944, and an industrial centre in 1968.

Brits today it is a modern, developing town surrounded by fragrant citrus groves.
Brits is situated in a fertile, citrus, vegetable and grain-producing area that is irrigated by the waters of the Hartbeespoort Dam in North West Province of South Africa. It is close to the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, which includes Pretoria and it has the same dialling code as Pretoria.

Brits also plays an important role in the South African mining industry: 94% of South Africa's platinum comes from the Rustenburg and Brits districts, which together produce more platinum than any other single area in the world. In addition, there is a large vanadium mine in the district.

As of 2006, Brits was experiencing a development boom, because of increased mining activity in the region.

Attractions include the De Wildt Cheetah Research Centre and the Vaalkop Dam Nature Reserve (a nature reserve of particular interest to enthusiastic bird watchers as more than 340 bird species have been recorded here).