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Okiep Copper District, Namaqualand:
Europeans’ earliest mining efforts
in
South Africa
Professor Bruce Cairncross
Department of Geology
At least 26 mines …
GEOLOGY……
Spektakel
Concordia mine dumpNarrap mine steam engine
COPPER MINES .....
The Okiep Copper district “Firsts”
• First economic deposit “discovered” by Europeans in South Africa in1685 (First European settlement in 1652 – hence copper “discovered” only 33 years later)
• First mine opened by Europeans in South Africa
• First South African mining company formed in1852
• First South African geological report written on the copper deposits
• First South African geological map in South Africa – the Namaqualand copper fields.
Copper fromSpektakel mine
Discovery site Aug 2011Concordia:
National Monument
Discovery site: Sketch from van der Stel’s expedition notes
The Okiep Copper district “Firsts”Springbok
August 2011
Blue Mine
Blue Mine Plaque
One of the first South African share certificates (1854)
Andrew Geddes Bain:
Geologist and Road Maker
*****
First Geological ReportWritten in South Africa
(1856)
(1859)
Charles BellSurveyor General:
Cape Colony1848 to 1872
Surveyor, artist, designer, businessman
Okiep 1899 - 1902
Okiep August 2011
Nababeep mine, August 2011
Nababeep mine chalcanthite
Jubilee mine, collected 1993
Tweefontein (left 2011; below 1993)
Jan Coetzee mine (2011)
The Jan Coetzee mine• Located 11 km north of Nababeep• First worked in 1888 (Cape Copper Company), abandoned 1907
• (several prospecting pits an 80-m deep shaft)• Reopened in 1964 by the O’Kiep Copper Company and finally closed in 1971• 1966 spectacular quartz crystal “cave” opened - 12 X 12 metres across and 6 metres
high• Floor, walls and roof covered by thousands of crystals and thousands lying loose on
the floor• Estimated at several tons of quartz, ~ 50,000 specimens!!• Largest almost 2m long (185 cm) and weighed 250kg.
Some Okiep minerals( a rich mineralogical heritage)
Chalcocite
Calcite Calcite
Ferroaxinite
Chalcopyrite
Gypsum
Quartz
Jan Coetzee Mine 1968
Jan Coetzee mine 1994
Jan Coetzee mine 2011
Nababeep mine smelter chimney, August 2011
Nababeep ...
Nababeep Mining Museum
Karin Janecke - Curator
Thank you!