The name of Ellisras town was changed to Lephalale during 2002. Town The town is divided into three major extensions: Lephalale, Onverwacht and Marapong. The Lephalale Municipality (LM) area comprises two (2) urban nodes, namely Lephalale/Onverwacht and Marapong (Provincial Growth Point), as well as the surrounding Witpoortjie/Thabo Mbeki rural area (Provincial Growth Point), that accommodates both commercial and communal mixed-farming practices. An industrial area is also slowly developing near Onverwacht, while a heavy industrial zone has been earmarked near the Steenbokpan turnoff. The locality of the municipal area in relation to the rest of the country ensures that a number of important regional routes transverse the area. There is one National road running through the area and three main Provincial roads serve the area, namely: N11 (Mokopane/Baltimore/Botswana) P84/1 (Vaalwater/Ellisras/Botswana) P19/2 (Ellisras/Marken) that links with (Mokopane) P198/1 (Vaalwater/Ellisras) These roads serve as links between Thabazimbi, Vaalwater, Ellisras and Mokopane. The P84/1 and 198/1 run mostly along the drainage subsystems in the area. These main roads are tarred and are in relatively good condition. The towns developed around the central business district in a linear form along the R517 road, and also along the main road that leads to Stockpoort. The Lephalale-Stockpoort road is the main connection road between the Marapong community and Lephalale/Onverwacht. Geography Lephalale is situated between 23°30' and 24°00' south latitude and 27°30' and 28°00' east longitude and the town is positioned west of the Mokolo river, a tributary to the Limpopo river, 820 meters above sea level. Weather In Lephalale, the summers are long, hot, and partly cloudy and the winters are short, cool, dry, and clear. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 7 °C to 32 °C and is rarely below 4 °C or above 36 °C. Based on the beach/pool score, the best times of year to visit Lephalale for hot-weather activities are from early February to mid April and from early September to early November. Economy The economy of Lephalale is dominated by mining, electricity production, tourism, agriculture and game farming. Mining Lephalale is rich with coal which is mined by Exxaro at the Grootegeluk coal mine. The Waterberg coalfield has an estimated resource of 75-billion tons of coal, which is 40% of South Africa's remaining coal resource. The coalfield's 75-billion tons are in 11 zones, which consist of bright coal with interbedded shale and dull coal, sandstone and carbonaceous