Digging Deep

A History of Mining in South Africa

Jade Davenport

• Publisher: Jonathan Ball
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781868424047
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Biographies
• Index: Business

Before the advent of the great mineral revolution in the latter half of the 19th century, South Africa was a sleepy colonial backwater whose unpromising landscape was seemingly devoid of any economic potential. Yet lying just beneath the dusty surface of the land lay the richest treasure trove of gold, diamonds, platinum, coal and a host of other metals and minerals that has ever been discovered in one country. It was the discovery and exploitation of first diamonds in 1870 and then gold in 1886 that proved the catalyst to the greatest mineral revolution the world has ever known, which transformed South Africa into the supreme industrialised power on the African continent. Here for the first time is the complete history of South Africa's phenomenal mineral revolution spanning a period of more than 150 years, from its earliest commercial beginnings to the present day, incorporating seven of the major commodities that have been exploited. Digging Deep describes the establishment and unparalleled growth of mining, tracing the history of the industry from its humble beginnings where copper was first mined on a commercial basis in Namaqualand in the Cape Colony in the early 1850s, to the discovery and exploitation of the country's other major mineral commodities. This is also the story of how mining gave rise to modern South Africa and how it compelled the country to develop and progress the way in which it did. It also incorporates the stories of the visionary men - Cecil Rhodes, Alfred Beit, Barney Barnato, Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, Sammy Marks and Hans Merensky - who pioneered and shaped the development of the industry on which modern South Africa was built.

CHAPTER ONE

Prospecting the New Frontier

Southern Africa has one of the longest mining histories in the world, dating back to the late Stone Age. The site of the oldest known mining operation is Lion Cavern on a high ridge of Ngwenya Mountain in Swaziland where, as early as 41 250 BCE, late Stone Age populations quarried haematite deposits as a source of red ochre for cosmetic and ritual purposes.1 Since that prehistoric date, indigenous populations, particularly metal-working clans, have sporadically exploited southern Africa’s generous metalliferous deposits. Iron ores, copper and tin were favoured by pre-colonial metal-workers, owing to their usefulness in the manufacture of tools and weapons, as well as in creating decorative ornaments. Gold – the metal that has brought South Africa fame and wealth over the last 140 years – was also mined in pre-colonial times for decorative and trading purposes, although the exact locations of the workings is only vaguely known.

There is no doubt that mining activity in southern Africa flourished during the pre-colonial era, but later, because many ‘ancient’ mines were seen simply as indications of rich mineral deposits, much of the archaeological evidence they contained was destroyed by colonial and post-colonial prospecting and mining activities.2 As a result, southern Africa’s archaeological record, particularly with regard to ancient mining activities, is sadly lacking. What is known with fair certainty is that surface deposits of iron ore were smelted at sites near Phalaborwa and Broederstroom as early as the fifth century CE; that copper was actively mined at Phalaborwa and at the Leopard Kopje mines of the Messina region sometime before the tenth century; and that tin was actively exploited near the present town of Rooiberg from the fifteenth century onwards.3

* * *

While there is no doubt that mining activities predate the arrival of the first European explorers and settlers in southern Africa, it is at that pivotal date, in 1652, that this history must commence as it was only in the wake of European settlement that official documentation of geological and mining activities in southern Africa was first undertaken.

Modern South Africa began as a by-product of the lucrative trading enterprise of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). In the seventeenth century, the Golden Age of the Dutch Republic, the VOC was the world’s greatest merchant corporation, trading luxury commodities between Europe and Southeast Asia. The Company was essentially an independent state outside the jurisdiction of the Republic: it operated under a charter from the Dutch government and was granted sovereign rights in and east of the Cape of Good Hope.

The foundations of modern South Africa were laid in the year 1652 when the VOC authorised one of its Commanders, Jan van Riebeeck, to occupy the Cape of Good Hope and establish a settlement at the foot of Table Mountain. The purpose of this settlement was to serve as a victualling station and a halfway link between The Netherlands and its eastern trading empire, which was centred in Batavia (modern-day Jakarta, capital of Indonesia). At the start, the Dutch had no intention of committing themselves to much more than building a small fort to defend a settlement where the annual fleets to and from Batavia could rendezvous, take in fresh water, fruit, vegetables and grain, and land their sick for recuperation.4

Although the settlement was intended solely to service the needs of Dutch trading ships, directors of the Company did instruct Van Riebeeck to search for valuable mineral deposits in the vicinity. The first permanent European settlers in the Cape had every reason to believe in the rich mineral potential of that frontier region. Discoveries of gold and copper by Portuguese mariners exploring the west coast of Africa in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries had led to a thriving and profitable metal trade at the port of El Mina, in present-day Ghana: it is estimated that, in the early years of the sixteenth century, between 24 000 and 30 000 ounces of gold was exported to Portugal from El Mina each year.5 While the thriving metal trade may have been centred on the West African coast, European traders and explorers were certainly aware of the existence of other sought-after metals, such as copper, further south. In his account of meeting the inhabitants of St Helena Bay in 1497, the great Portuguese mariner, Vasco da Gama, mentions that the Khoi tribe of that area wore copper beads in their ears. It was subsequently confirmed that these copper ornaments were derived from the workings of the Namaqua people, who roamed the semi-desert some 400 kilometres to the north of present-day Cape Town.6

The VOC, however, was primarily interested in finding payable deposits of gold. The company sent out experienced miners and assayers with instructions to prospect the immediate vicinity of the fort, paying particular attention to Devil’s Peak, Table Mountain and Lion’s Head, but thorough investigations yielded little evidence of rich gold mineralisation.7 Undeterred by that initial failure, in 1660 Van Riebeeck widened the scope of investigation and despatched a mineral prospecting expedition into the interior under the command of Pieter van Meerhof. Contact was made with some Namaqua people who wore a considerable amount of copper ornamentation, but they were far from the land of the Namaquas and the arid intervening terrain discouraged his party from going on to find the source of that copper.8 Ultimately, as the maintenance of the victualling station was the Company’s main priority, Van Meerhof’s search for precious metals in the interior was abandoned when no promising indications were uncovered. It would be another 20 years before effort was put into discovering the source of the copper adorning the Namaquas.

In 1679 Simon van der Stel, the newly appointed Commander at the Cape of Good Hope, learnt of Van Meerhof’s encounter with the Namaquas and developed an interest in the copper prospects of the territory that came to be known as Namaqualand. He issued a formal invitation to Namaqua chiefs to visit him at the Fort with a view to finding out more about the mineral potential of their land and in December 1681 received a delegation bearing specimens of very high-grade copper ore, which they insisted had been quarried from a ‘mountain of copper’ in Namaqualand with their own hands. While, disappointingly, the samples did not contain gold, they contained such a rich percentage of copper that Governor van der Stel decided to make a personal inspection of the mines. Despite his enthusiastic requests to mount an immediate expedition, it was only in 1685 that he received official authorisation from the VOC to lead a party to examine the copper mountains of Namaqualand.9

It was on 25 August 1685 that the great mineral-seeking adventure left Cape Town with the salutes of rounds of Company muskets ringing in their ears. Van der Stel kept meticulous notes of the venture in his diary, which was later published under the title Simon van der Stel’s Journal of his Expedition to Namaqualand in 1685/6.10 The party, which was well-equipped, consisted of Commander van der Stel with three slaves as personal attendants, 56 Europeans of various callings, 46 drivers and leaders, mostly of mixed race, and a number of Khoi to serve as interpreters. As the party progressed further north, Namaquas joined the expedition as guides. The means of transportation included the Commander’s coach, 15 wagons, eight carts and a boat for the purpose of crossing the Berg and Olifants rivers, drawn by 289 oxen, 13 horses and eight donkeys. Two small cannons were also included in the caravan, the intention being to impress the indigenous inhabitants with respect for the power of the Europeans.11

As the caravan proceeded beyond the limits of the Dutch settlement, the country was found to be so rugged that progress was slow and difficult. It took two months for the party to cover a distance of some 365 miles and it was only on 21 October 1685 that they reached the copper mountains of Namaqualand. They pitched their camp at the foot of a ridge, aptly called the Koperberg, five miles east of the present-day town of Springbok. A site on the ridge, declared a national monument, has ‘1685’ cut in it in old-fashioned characters and it is said that Van der Stel’s initials could be seen in the rock until vandals obliterated them.12

The ridge where the camp was pitched was found to be stained green with copper mineralisation, so various exploratory holes were made in the hills and three shafts were sunk. The task of prospecting and assaying mineral samples was undertaken by Frederich Mathias van Werlinckhof, the VOC’s Chief Mining Engineer, who was instructed to assist the Commander and report on the mineral potential of the Cape while en route to the east where he would assume command of mining operations on the west coast of Sumatra.

Van der Stel and his chief mining assistant commenced a close examination of the site, with an eye to the economic viability of establishing a copper mine, for there can be little doubt that it was the commercial prospects of the deposits rather than their scientific value that appealed principally to the Commandant. Some two weeks were devoted to extracting the ore and examining the surrounding country. Van Werlinckhof was at first disappointed with the results of the digging, but his opinion grew more favourable as the shaft was sunk deeper and the grade of copper ore increased. In his diary, he noted:

At this place we sunk to a depth of three fathoms, finding better ore the deeper we went, holding [copper] and real silver so far as tests could be made, so that, in my opinion, it is certain and obvious that the deeper one goes the richer and richer minerals will be, the more so because … the minerals first found were not perfect, but the deeper they lay, the harder, more compact, and richer they were found to be.13

The diary also revealed that he was ‘entirely convinced of the favourable character of these mines’ and in the event of mining operations being continued, ‘richer and richer, and better minerals will be found, for the hills concerned extend several miles in length and breadth, and hold minerals almost everywhere’.14

After 14 days of prospecting the copper mountains the party packed up their caravan to widen their exploration of Namaqualand. However, because it was the height of summer and there was little grass or drinking water for the animals, the expedition decided to return to the Fort. They arrived in Cape Town on 26 January 1686, more than five months after setting out. The ore samples collected in Namaqualand were sent to Holland for assaying, as no such facilities existed at the Cape. Unfortunately, the results proved disappointing, with each sample yielding between 7,5 and 11 per cent copper. With the benefit of hindsight, it is known that the party had unwittingly passed within a stone’s throw of some of Namaqualand’s richest copper deposits, which have yielded more than 60 per cent copper. It was those rich deposits that would be developed into profitable mines some 200 years later.

Not surprisingly, the low copper content, the remoteness of the resource from Cape Town, the cost of transportation, and the harsh conditions of the region discouraged the VOC from establishing mining operations in the Koperberg. Moreover, with the limited and basic appliances at the Company’s disposal at the Cape, it was realised that the copper could not be exploited in sufficient quantities to pay what would be exorbitant expenses. Under these circumstances the VOC considered it futile to spend more money or thought upon the matter and so the rich copper deposits were left unexploited until the improved technology and transportation of more modern times made it possible to turn the mineral wealth of Namaqualand to account.

For some 80 years following Van der Stel’s Namaqualand expedition, no noteworthy attempts were made by the Company to establish or exploit the mineral potential of the land they had colonised. It was not until 1761 that interest in mineral exploration, specifically in the copper deposits, was roused again. In that year the Dutch government directed a detailed examination to be made of the geology of Namaqualand, and sent the geologist, Dr Carel Rykvoet, to analyse the ores and minerals of that district.15 During his investigations, Rykvoet rather underestimated the mineral wealth of the region and concluded that there was insufficient copper to support a commercial and profitable mining enterprise.

When I arrived at the first or large Copper Mountains … I found by analysis that the ore of this mountain yielded only a very small quantity of copper. After having examined the little Copper Mountain, situated very close to the large one I found it to produce more copper than the former … and in other places also veins of copper are to be found, which led to the supposition that the same might yield the same quantity of copper as was proved by the formed analysis; but it nevertheless appears that it would not be profitable to commence mining operations here.16

Rykvoet’s conclusion was founded on two suppositions. First, he believed that the rocks were of such a hard substance that the working out of the ore would prove to be a very tedious and difficult process, and second, there was not enough wood in the vicinity of the mountains to smelt the copper.17 Inevitably, the negative outcome of Rykvoet’s report again inhibited the development of a commercial mining industry in Namaqualand and, thus, the question of the copper deposits would be held in abeyance for ano...

Table of contents

• Description
• About the Author
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Introduction
• 1   Prospecting the New Frontier
• 2   The Cradle of Commercial Mining
• 3   The First Rush
• 4   The Era of Diggers’ Democracy
• 5   The Search for a South African El Dorado
• 6   The Pilgrims’ Gold Bonanza
• 7   Enter the Mining Magnates
• 8   Finding the Golden Arc
• 9   The Magnates and the Mother Lode
• 10   King of Coal
• 11   Consolidation of the Monopoly
• 12   Kruger’s Curse
• 13   The Visionary
• 14   Toil and Trouble
• 15   New Prospects along the Golden Arc
• 16   Powering Industry
• 17   Trove of the Bushveld
• 18   The Rise of Platinum
• 19   The Fission Factor
• 20   Conclusion
• Picture Section
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Acknowledgements
• Copyright Page