Nigel is a small gold mining town in Gauteng Province, South Africa, south-east of Johannesburg. The town is at the south-eastern edge of the area known as the East Rand.

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Nigel
Nigel Show map of Gauteng Nigel Show map of South Africa
Coordinates: 26°25′13″S 28°28′6″E
Country	South Africa
Province	Gauteng
Municipality	Ekurhuleni
Area [1]
• Total	139.07 km2 (53.70 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[1]
• Total	38,318
• Density	280/km2 (710/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [1]
• Black African	44.9%
• Coloured	16.7%
• Indian/Asian	3.9%
• White	33.4%
• Other	1.1%
First languages (2011) [1]
• Afrikaans	43.5%
• Zulu	23.3%
• English	16.1%
• Sotho	5.3%
• Other	11.8%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)	1491
PO box	1490
Area code	011

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A farmer, shopkeeper and prospector, Petrus Johannes Marais, having read Sir Walter Scott's The Fortunes of Nigel at the time (see Nigel), formed the Nigel Gold Mining Company after the discovery of gold on the farm Varkensfontein in 1886.^[2]: 286 The town, which grew around the mine, still bears names derived from Scott's book and its characters with the suburb of Glenvarloch and its streets derived from that source.^[2]: 286

Today the town is focused primarily on mining and also has various heavy industries.

The town became known as the setting of the popular Afrikaans-sitcom Vetkoekpaleis,^[3] a sitcom that revolves around the daily lives of staff members of the Vetkoekpaleis (a Vetkoek-themed fast-food restaurant).

Nigel's municipal government became part of the much larger City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality following the creation of new local government structures in 2000, along with most of rest of the East Rand.

On 1 August 2010, a fire at the Pieter Wessels old age home led to the deaths of 22 people.^[4]

• Alra-park
• Mackenzie-Ville
• Snake-park (informal settlement)