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!